Orbital Academy
by Hell'sDomain
Summary: Halfway between a silver moon and a green tinged planet, five space stations hang in orbit. The men and women who man those orbitals live a life in constant danger, both from the threats of the dangerous planet below, and from each other. Orbital Academy follows the lives of some of those men and women, their highs and lows, trials and tribulations, as well as their sex lives. OOC
1. Calypso's Reputation

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

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><p>Halfway between a silver moon and a green-tinged planet, Calypso shifted in her seat, adjusting uncomfortably. The cockpit was too cramped, filled with the faint smell of recycled air and old leather. They'd been flying for three hours now, her and her nine new students, cramped within their individual ships and maneuvering through exercises all afternoon. While the time had been very helpful to Calypso, it was also somehow both nerve-wracking and boring. Putting the squad through their paces on the very first day easily showed her which of these rookies would need help in the future and which already had a feel for flying. On the other hand, the exercises were so basic that only a newbie could mess them up, and if anyone was so unskilled, they would cause catastrophic damage.<p>

"Leo, Jason, ease up on the adjusters. It doesn't make much difference at these speeds, but if we were flying a surface run you guys would start to drift out of formation like that." "Sorry Miss A," Leo's voice crackled over the radio as both offending pilots moved to correct their positioning, nudging the sharp noses of their cruisers back into formation. "This is a bunch of bullshit." Although Jason's radio was tuned to the rookie's private channel, Calypso's ship was fitted with sensors that let her listen in, "She keeps scolding us for shit she hasn't told us about; are we supposed to read her mind?" "If I'm doing something wrong, I'd rather she told us than not," Leo responded over the same private channel, levelly, "that's why she's the instructor, right? She knows her stuff and we don't." "Always an excuse for her," Jason scoffed, "you're a pussy, Leo."

Yet you don't have the balls to complain to my face, Calypso thought with a dry smile, but she stayed quiet. It was far more helpful to have a silent way of keeping tabs on the rookie squad. She switched on the public com once again and addressed her fleet; the four boys and five girls that she would be training for the next year. "Alright ladies and gents, we've got one more grouping of drones a few kilometers away, and then we can head back and debrief. I know you're all probably ready to get out of these things." Calypso flipped open a long range scanner screen to the sound of various murmurs of agreement and dropped her speed, letting the other nine boost on ahead. "I'm going to hang back and watch you, take some notes for this last run," she warned, "so if you want to impress me, now's your shot."

She let herself relax a little bit as the rookies streamed on ahead, assembling in a rough "V" formation. Her eyes flicked between the screens of ship stats and positioning data as she shifted in her seat again, trying to get comfortable. It had been a rough day for her, making sure the squad knew what they were doing. The flight exercises should've been relaxing part of the day, but ever since the disastrous crash two years ago, Calypso always felt nervous about what the Academy considered "flight-ready". "Approaching final drone swarm," Jason's voice on the public channel was official-sounding as the students caught sight of the quick-moving practice ships. "I really want to look good on this one guys," the quiet voice of one of her girls, Piper, fired over the rookies' "private" channel, "if we can prove we can handle this well, she seems like the sort of instructor who'll go a little easier on us." "Oh I want to look good too in front of Calypso Appet, believe me." Jason's voice was sly, and a few of the other boys chuckled in response. Calypso stiffened, her face stony even though there was no one around to see it. And so it begins again. "What do you mean?" Piper asked, curious and oblivious, "Why Captain Appet in particular?" "Oh haven't you heard about Captain Appet's reputation?" Calypso could tell that Jason was taking great delight in Piper's naivete, and she ground her teeth as she listened. "It's a pretty well known fact in pre-Cad that you wanna get assigned to Calypso Appet's squad in Academy. See she kinda has a thing for rookies who are grade-A flyers; they get her all weak in the knees."

For a moment Calypso considered speaking up, but she reminded herself that she wanted to know what her new squad were like when they didn't think anyone was listening. Even so, she hadn't realized that the rumor had filtered all the way down to the Pre-Academy. She flushed and scowled as Jason's voice carried on. "Word is, if you've got enough mojo in a cruiser, and you're in Cap-App's squad, you can pretty much rest assured that for the whole year she'll take you under her wing and give you some 'private docking lessons', if you know what I mean." A few guffaws from both male and female cadets told Calypso that they did indeed know what he meant. "Jason, stop being disgusting," another of her cadets' voice broke in, then, after a pause, joked "but seriously, let's look good guys. I called in some serious favors to get assigned to Captain Appet, it'd be a shame if I lost my chance to tap that."

Calypso flicked the radio off to cut off the laughter, plunging the craft into the unnatural silence of space as she watched the screens tracking the rookies' flight paths around the drones. She breathed deeply and exhaled, trying to get rid of the burning feeling in her stomach. It wasn't as if the rumors were unearned; she had in fact taken a lover from her squads every year, but Calypso liked to think it was nowhere near as crass as the rumors made it sound. Graduates fresh out of Pre-Academy were so used to thinking along such distinct lines, broken up into teacher and student.

They didn't understand that things were different in the Academy…sure she was technically their instructor this year, but they might be teammates next year, or squad partners. The Academy assigned groups based on technical knowledge alone; it wouldn't even be unheard of if one of these rookies became her instructor next year, if they had some specialized knowledge she could do to learn. It's not that weird for two adults to have a perfectly casual thing together, she consoled herself sullenly, and I'm not even the only one who does it, other Instructors… she cast about for some excuse, …are just better at hiding it, that's all.

Calypso could feel the stress of the day pressing into her temples, the tension of keeping track of rookies as she herded them around the orbital base and through their initial tests. She slipped off one glove and stretched out her fingers, then rubbed them against her temples. Breathing in and holding her breath for a while before sighing, she tried to relax her entire body into the seat as she did so. It took a few minutes of staring past the screens, into the black expanse beyond them, but she finally began to calm down, emptying her mind of all thoughts except for the beauty of the void.

She barely noticed that she was slipping her hand across her rigid flightsuit until she touched her belt, then she smiled at herself. Another easy way to relax… A glance at the screen told her the rookies wouldn't be done with the drones for another ten minutes, and the distance between them was so far that the ships were nowhere near visual range; she reached out with her other hand to carefully close each screen in turn. Calypso gently let her fingers trail across the flightsuit's scaled pieces, while she watched the drifting moon in the corner of her field of view. Breathing a little more evenly in the silence, she let her mind wander as the tingling of her own touch traveled up and down her stomach.

Slowly, lazily, she tugged the sealing tag of her flightsuit down her body, the small toggle letting the seam in the rigid material unseal and open from the neck all the way down. Without the warmth of the flightsuit sealed in, Calypso shivered as she suddenly felt the cold of space against her exposed body. While she leaned her head against the back of her seat, she let her fingers drift along the bare skin, barely touching. Looking up into the stars that seemed just beyond her clear cockpit, each touch of her fingers seemed magnified, sending jolts of electricity. Tense, strained muscles finally relaxed against the leather chair.

With a smooth motion Calypso slid a thumb through her small patch of brown hair before pressing on her clit, shivering a little at the sensation. A single finger reached further, slipping between her lips as she continued gently rubbing. She was surprised at how wet she already was; it had been awhile since she had done this within her cruiser, and something about the darkness and stillness around her, about the utter silence and serene surroundings, made her able to let go in a way she couldn't replicate anywhere else. One finger was completely inside her now, moving in small circles to accompany the slick rubbing of her thumb across her clit. As the stars shone like tiny pinpricks all around her, Calypso allowed herself the luxury of hovering on the very edge of release, holding completely still for several intense seconds before sliding her thumb back and forth, her finger in and out, then pausing once again.

When her legs began trembling and her breath started to catch in her throat, she thrust her first two fingers within herself, as deep as they would go, while at the same time grinding her thumb against her clit. Her breath came out in a gasp, then a soft moan as her orgasm rippled through her as sharp as the pinpricks of light that lit space around her. Her entire body was shaking, pleasure crashing into her in waves with nothing between her and the beautiful majesty of the stars but a thin layer of the ship's canopy and a thousand layers of ecstasy.

Leaning back, moaning as her fingers slid out of her and relaxing, Calypso gave herself a few minutes to enjoy the ripples that still shivered across her skin. The small cockpit smelled of sweat and her own slightly sweet scent, and she closed her eyes for just a few moments longer.

When she regained her composure, lifting the screens back into place, a much less stressed Calypso saw that the rookies were just finishing up disabling the drones. They were all fairly skilled, she noted, and a good crop of flyers made her job much easier. She flicked the radio back on, and the sound cut into the tiny cockpit in the midst of an argument. "-because some of us are more concerned with learning to fly that getting into an instructor's pants. You're gross." Normally one of the quiet students, Nico's deep voice was just wrapping up a lecture of some kind. "Seriously Nico, maybe you should stop being such a teacher's pet and mind your own business," Jason's voice was starting to make Calypso involuntarily clench her teeth when she heard it, "I paid the Academy recruiter five hundred credits to assign me to this team, if you think you're gonna convince me to just give up on some tasty Captian ass-" "Good work rookies," Calypso broadcasted on the public channel as if she hadn't been listening to the private chat, taking a small bit of vindictive joy in cutting Jason off, "let's get back to the base, debrief, and call it a day; I know you're all probably looking forward to it." The squad transmitted a series of guilty affirmatives as the ten ships swung their trajectories around and began their approach back to the orbital base. Both private and public chat remained sheepishly silent for the five minutes it took them to travel back to the orbital base that housed the Academy, but as they approached the hangar and began slowly nudging the ships into their huge docking stations, Leo broadcasted privately, his voice quiet as if he was afraid Calypso would hear him through the walls, "Did you guys really pull favors and bribes to get assigned to this squad?" "Damn straight," Jason replied, "a little guaranteed action all year? That's worth some credits to me." "Better hope it pays off," one of his female squadmates commented, her voice filled with disgust, "'cause I guarantee none of the girls in our year are gonna want you."

Calypso could've sat and listened to the conversation, but as soon as her ship had docked she slid the small silver lever that dropped her from the seat and onto the hangar bay floor. She had heard enough.

However the conversation had continued, it was obviously fascinating enough for the whole squad to listen to or weigh in on, because Calypso had the debriefing room to herself for a full five minutes. She was glad for the small amount of time to gather her thoughts, to breath deeply and just stare at the ceiling of the large round room for a while. It's the rumor that's the problem she decided, letting her eyes follow the Academy insignia on the ceiling, I'm not doing anything wrong, technically, the real problem is that I'm not known for training good squadies, I'm known for really good- She drummed her fingers on her arm, listening to the sharp clicking of her gloved fingers against the rigid navy scales of her flightsuit.

Her new squad began filing in, all in a group, some of them smirking, some with their heads downcast, murmuring and chatting about this and that, their conversation about her clearly over with. Calypso couldn't help noticing that Missy was blushing furiously, and refusing to meet her eyes. For some reason that goaded Calypso more than anything else. She could live with a reputation as the Academy's resident sex fiend…could live, even, with some of her rookies thinking of her as an easy lay; if she was being honest with herself, under the right circumstances she was an easy lay. But she would be damned if peoples' big mouths and a handful of jackasses were going to make sweet innocent little Missy stop looking up to her. Calypso didn't mind a reputation, but she refused to give up respect. Okay…if I have to have a reputation, then I'm gonna choose my own. A reputation that deserves…no, demands respect. Her boots hit the ground with a sharp "click" that quieted the murmuring for a moment. She capitalized on that momentary quiet to stand up and start speaking. "Alright Rooks, now that you survived your first day and I'm satisfied that you'll all probably be sticking around for the rest of the year, I think we can settle into what I hope will be our normal mode of operations." Calypso let the group settle into the chairs that surrounded the main speaking circle.

The room was meant for a group of thirty or fifty to debrief, so the group of nine felt particularly cozy as they occupied just the first row, leafing through the folder of schedules and regulations that they'd been collecting throughout the day. "I know you guys will have noticed that a lot of those regulations seem a little extreme. You all can rest assured that what you've probably heard about me is true; I tend to have a soft spot in my heart for my squad, you won't be adhering to those." She gave the group a big warm grin, and she could actually see the cadets in front of her relax. One of the more gullible boys, clearly thinking she was openly admitting to screwing her rookies, even broke into a grin that matched her own. "For example," she continued, "the Academy-standard schedule says there's a mandated wake-up call at 0600 hours. Yours will be at 0430, so we can get in an hour of simulator training before breakfast." She knew she was being cruel, but even so she couldn't help but enjoy the looks on their faces as she continued, the widening eyes and the sudden frowns. "Academy-standard mandates a 2.7 accuracy rating before required extra practices. For my squad that's a 3.0 rating. Academy strongly encourages three tactical or strategic courses in addition to standard training but makes them optional; guess how many of those are optional for my squad?" "But Miss Calypso-" one of the girls had recovered enough to stammer an interruption, and she was actually raising her hand like some Pre-Academy eighteen-year-old. Calypso let the stupid grin still on her face settle into a hard look, one that would silenced teammates, let alone rookie squaddies. "Captain Appet," Calypso corrected, her voice cold. "Sorry, Captain Appet, don't you think you could go easy on us for our first week-" "No, no, I don't think you realized how much you fucked up just now," a small part of her felt guilty for the rookies, as the girl lapsed into a kind of terrified silence. Another small part of her was enjoying herself far too much. Every single year I want to say these things to them. "I'm not 'Miss Calypso', Rook. Not ever." Every single year…why has it taken me this long to try this approach? "I'm Captain Appet, that's my official title, that's how you refer to me officially. If you're feeling particularly friendly, you can use my official title like a nickname, 'Cap', just like I may occasionally call you all 'Rook'. If you decide to refer to me by some friendly, non-official term, you'd damn well better be sure we're friends."

Calypso realized that she was sort of looming over the girl, and she straightened and let her gaze take in all nine of the new recruits. Most of them seemed…well, cowed. Normally at this point of the first day she would be feeling nervous, wondering if her squad respected her, wondering if she would be able to control her more unruly members. She wasn't used to feeling so…powerful. Whatever else the rookies were feeling for her right now, they were paying attention. Now to just drive it home, and Calypso was well on her way to beginning a new reputation for herself. "You were probably about to ask why my squad is being held to higher standards than all of the others." She let her gaze travel across each of the rookies, "whether you believe me or not, you'll be glad in a year's time when you're kicking the ass of every other rookie in your year, and you have teams clamoring for you. You'll be able to take your pick, which is a big deal in Academy life. And on the chance we get assigned to the same team after this year, I'd prefer to be with people who know what they're doing. This year, this squad is gonna turn out the best rookies this academy has ever seen. That experience should be well worth five hundred credits."

Calypso only stayed long enough to see the dawning horror on the squad's faces as they realized she had been listening, and then she turned to the doorway, turning her back on her room as she left so none of them would see the smirk she could no longer hide. "They open the simulation room at 0445 tomorrow, I expect to see you all there. Dismissed," she barked over her shoulder, before she made her way out of the room.

She felt alive and energized, the entire stressful day almost wiped from her shoulders as she strode down the hallways of the Academy. I might actually have a squad that is worth its salt this year she exulted, smiling at the thought, and even better, a squad that actually listens to me. Maybe even respects me…why haven't I done this before? Actually took a tough stance with my rookies? Damn it feels good, I feel like I'm on fire. I feel like I want to stand at the head of the grand stairway and scream and pound my chest…or fly my cruiser in a ring around the academy and say who cares about the fuel…I want to…

Calypso's eyes narrowed as she spotted the doorway to an empty conference room in the side of the hallway. Glancing back to confirm she was in the hall on the way to the rookie dormitory, she slipped into the conference room and turned out the light, standing by the doorway but hidden in the dark. She hadn't been consciously coming this way, but clearly her subconscious had been more attentive than she; it knew exactly what she wanted. When, a few minutes later, the rookie squad walked past, heading towards their dorms, her pulse quickened. Just as she had assumed, Leo was at the very back of the group, not interacting with anyone in the squad, simply following. When they passed, with a smooth motion Calypso stepped out, hooking a gloved finger into the neck of his flightsuit and pulling him gently into the dark conference room. To his credit, Leo didn't jump or make a noise as she grabbed him, or even when she pushed him against the wall next to the door. There, in the half-dark, she considered him for a moment.

Leo wasn't tall, shorter even than she was, but the way he held himself, his broad shoulders and chest gave him a presence that she liked. In the dim light that filtered in through the door his light skin seemed darker, hiding most of his expression except for his eyes which met hers steadily. For a second Calypso had a vivid mental picture of her own pale skin contrasted against his own, and her smile bordered on the predatory at the thought. She knew that what she was about to do would make it harder to gain the reputation she wanted, but she also knew she didn't want to give this particular habit up. Besides, he had defended her to his more immature squadmates; she owed him a thank-you for that. "Leo Valdez," she breathed, knowing he could hear her in the deathly still conference room, "I want to make it clear to you that regardless of how the next few minutes play out, I will be treating you no differently than the rest of your squadmates this year. You are entirely free to step out that door, and there will be no repercussions for doing so. But if you don't…" even as close as they were, pressed against each other, the hard scales on their flightsuits prevented her from feeling the heat of his body against her, but she pressed her hips forward ever so slightly, just enough that he would feel the pressure against his own, "…I'm prepared to give you a very special welcome to the Academy."

Calypso waited for a heartbeat, then a few seconds, to see if he would leave. Sometimes they did; true to her word she was always very careful not to let it affect her relationship with her rookies. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until Leo lunged forward, pressing his lips into hers. Smug beneath his kiss, she reached out with a foot hit the motion sensor that slid the door closed, plunging them both into darkness and privacy. Calypso almost smiled at the eagerness with which he kissed her; there was something so adorably awkward about it. It was clear the young man wasn't used to this sort of thing. She reached up to snag the zipper of his flightsuit, while the other hand snaked around his neck.

Her lips parted as his tongue flicked at them, and she allowed herself a small moan as the kiss deepened and his arms move to clasp her. His hands, slightly fumbling in their gloves, slid along her waist, then up to her chest. Calypso broke the kiss, staring at him with disbelief, even though he couldn't see her in the dark. Is…is he trying to feel me up through my flightsuit? She didn't want to embarrass him by pointing out that no one could feel anything through the rigid material, so half smiling, half shaking her head, she clasped both of the boy's wrists and lifted them above his head, pressing them against the wall. Holding his wrists in place with one hand, keeping him immobile and against the wall, she slid the seal downward. Calypso's heartbeat quickened as his body was exposed, her eyes straining in the dark to see his smooth chest, his hard, dark abs. She left the flightsuit sealed up to the waist, loose enough that she could slip a hand within when she wanted.

Brushing her lips across his, Calypso could feel his breath quickening, and she ginned. Though there were some cons in an inexperienced man like Leo, there was one benefit which she liked; they were always quite appreciative. Leo' breath was warm on her lips as she slowly slid a hand into his flightsuit, her nails lightly scraping across his pelvis, down his shaft, and very gently across his head. His whole body stiffened and shivered, and for a moment she was worried he was about to cum, but instead he breathed a wordless moan and tried to move his hands down to clasp her again. Calypso firmly banged his wrists back against the wall, holding him still while she cupped his member in her hand, gently stroking while she considered it in the dark. It was smaller than average, but she was sure that between his eagerness and her readiness, Leo would be able to satisfy her with it.

Very deliberately dragging her thumb along his entire length, Calypso let go, enjoying his small gasp of disappointment as he couldn't see her unsealing her own flightsuit. She was pulling the fabric down to her thighs by the time he understood, quivering in anticipation as the cool air in the conference room wafted against her naked bottom, and she could only imagine Leo' expression she moved closer to him. There was no uncertainty or hesitation in her movements as she slid his length from the restrictive suit, and her grin was wide enough that she had to stop kissing him for a moment, turning her head to let his kisses fall on her cheek and neck.

She could feel his pulse pounding beneath her fingers as she slowly slid his head from her lower stomach across her mound, leaving a slick trail through her pubic hair along its path until she settled it between her legs, pressing against her clit and lips. Leo' breath was so shallow she could barely tell he was breathing, and Calypso almost wanted to keep still for a few moments, just to see what he would do. However, she too was beginning to ache in her core, all too aware of the wetness dripping onto the pulsing length that sat between her legs, so close…

Hooking a finger beneath his shaft, Calypso pulled it up while sliding her hips forward, taking his entire length inside of her in one glorious, heart-stopping moment. Leo gasped out a cry, loud enough that Calypso put a hand over his mouth, laughing a little under her breath. They stood like that for long, intense seconds, neither moving as they both revelled in the pleasure that locked them together. When she was sure no one had heard Leo' outcry, Calypso began to move, slowly sliding her hips back until only his very tip was within her, then slamming forward, pushing him into her until she couldn't any more.

She tried to keep up the achingly unhurried rhythm for as long as she could, but Leo' hips were moving as well, bucking forward and back at a pace out of sync with her own, sending unexpected spurts of pleasure through her at irregular times. Although his efforts were still fumbling and slightly counterproductive, Calypso could feel the sexual desire pulsing and building inside her, could feel how wet the heat between her legs was becoming. Letting go of his wrists, she grabbed his hips and forced him to move in sync with her, speeding up so that he could thrust inside of her at a faster pace but forcing him into her rhythm. Her orgasm ripped through her so suddenly that it was all she could do to hold on to him, pulling on his hips to slam him into herself again and again, first her legs then her entire body quivering as it overtook her.

Easing her hands up his body, Calypso slowly came down from the high of her pleasure as she let Leo take up his own pace, pushing quickly in and out of her as he approached his own climax. A second before he came, as she felt him tense inside of her, she placed a hand over his mouth again, just a second before he gave a shout that would've almost certainly been heard had it not been muffled. She pushed him against the wall with her hips, moving them gently as she felt him shooting inside of her, trembling and straining while he filled her. With a smile that was almost fond Calypso carefully stepped back, delicately sliding the sealer over Leo' spent member so that there would be no offending stains that could be seen. Only when she had carefully pulled her own flightsuit back up over her shoulders did she reach over and flick on the light. Leo's grin was so genuine and enthusiastic that when she saw it Calypso had to grin in response. "That was…that…." he struggled for words, still smiling, while she slid the seal back up to the neck, "…that was pretty fun, Miss Calypso," he finished awkwardly. Calypso looked at him, the very picture of an awkward boy, unsure of where to look or what to do with his hands, and decided to go easy on him. She reached over and flicked his nose with a rigid glove, hard enough to mark but not bruise. "It was a lot of fun Rook," she said, smiling to take some of the sting out of the reminder, or at least to take the bite out of her words, "but it doesn't make us friends." "Oh. I mean, sure, I didn't mean-" Leo scrambled to recover, but Calypso simply smiled again, reached past him, and opened the door. After considering for a moment, she kissed him quickly on the cheek so he would know she wasn't angry. "See you at 0445," she smiled, and left quickly enough that the door would slide shut behind her before he could fumble for a response.

Her cravings satisfied for awhile, Calypso walked up the hallway towards her own quarters, turning the day over in her head. I think it's going to be a very interesting year…


	2. Annabeth's Competition

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

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><p>Every night before bed, Annabeth set a personal alarm for a half-hour before her squad mates woke up. The plan was always to enjoy a quiet hour to herself, a respite from the busy schedule that ruled her life these days. Unfortunately for Annabeth, every morning she would sleepily cancel the alarm as soon as it went off, so in practice she tended to be woken by the same alarm that shrieked the other rookies out of bed. She spit a swear word as her feet hit the cold tile of the barracks floor, and she wasn't the only one, as the rest of her squad mates dragged themselves from their beds and into the cold air.<p>

Clarisse, sleeping across from Annabeth, broke into a run as soon as she disentangled from her covers, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, yelling "First for showers! Dibs!" Annabeth smiled, pulling her blankets around her like a makeshift cloak. "More time for us to get warm," she muttered sleepily to no one in particular. The Academy orbital station had many luxuries that her home orbital did not, but it didn't have the energy to waste on extra water or heating. The barracks was kept just warm enough to be livable, and its' two-unit shower only had the water for nine showers of exactly fifteen minutes each. Though the squaddies tried not to go over their time, the final two always had less water than everyone else. Annabeth looked at the bunk next to her; Leo still curled in a ball, and Percy in the bunk above, awake but clearly not going anywhere. She cuddled into her blanket, confident that she wouldn't be last.

Piper was already stripping off her loose long-sleeved shirt by the time Annabeth reached the shower, and she blushed and covered her breasts with an arm as Annabeth came in. "Not looking, don't worry," Annabeth smiled and resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she turned her back on her squadmate, "but you know…we're all gonna be on the same squad for a year. After that, we'll probably end up on squads together on and off for the rest of our career. I don't think there's much of a point being shy around your squaddies. 'Specially us other girls." She tried to put it delicately, but as she shimmied out of her own white sleep clothes she could picture the furious blush that was probably creeping across Piper's face.

"I…I dunno," Piper stammered, "This seems to have been working so far." Annabeth did roll her eyes at that, but kept her back to the other girl as she stepped under the shower head and powered it on. "Sure, maybe for the last week," she breathed a sigh of contentment as the shower head read her body signature and warmed the water to her preferred temperature in an instant, dousing her in water so hot it bathed her in steam. "But there's gonna come a day in the next five years where I might not be the one showering with you, and who knows if the other girls'll be ok with this whole 'don't look to the left' thing. Or one of the guys," she added slyly, for the sole purpose of the squeak of shock that came from Piper.

"They wouldn't make us shower with one of the boys would they? Is that even legal?" Annabeth grinned at Piper's suddenly high-pitched voice. "They so can't do that! They couldn't force us to be that…that intimate!" Piper was starting to splutter with a mix of indignation and panic, and she didn't seem to notice that Annabeth had turned towards the frosted glass that separated them until she spoke.

"Piper. Look at me," Annabeth tried to convey reassurance and calm, "Nobody's going to make you do anything. You don't come from an Academy family, so you don't 'get' it…but your squad in the Academy, you grow so close to them that there's nothing hidden anymore. The nine of us are going to end up closer than siblings, closer than spouses. Maybe not this week, or even this year, but by the time we hit our second or third planetary mission? Or our fifth year together? There's not gonna be any secrets between any of us." "Really?" Piper's body language was the picture of uncertainty, but at least she wasn't blushing as far as Annabeth could tell, "I just can't picture that amount of closeness with someone you aren't married to."

"Are you kidding?" Annabeth turned back to the shower, flipping on the sonic cleanser and relaxing as the invisible sound waves destroyed particles of dirt and sweat from her skin, "my dad has this squaddie named Sara who comes around for dinner three or four times a week. We moved to the city so they could be close, that's how much they mean to each other. My mom knows that she's not gonna compete with that. Not that my dad doesn't love my mom, he'd die for her, but…" she shrugged, "it's impossible to break that connection between squaddies, you know? It's one of the things you accept when you marry an Academy grad. My dad might take a bullet for my mom, but Sara actually has taken a bullet for him."

Annabeth could see Piper taking her words in, lost in thought, as she flicked on her own shower head's sonic cleanser. She took the opportunity to give Piper a glance up and down through the separator. She was a very pale girl, Annabeth noted, her faintly pink skin a stark contrast to Annabeth's own. Not that that was the only difference between them. While Annabeth preferred to keep her blonde hair up in a ponytail at almost all times, Piper's curly brown locks fell in ringlets around her face. Annabeth was taller, her shoulders more squared and her hips wide, while Piper's figure was diminutive and petite. Piper noticed Annabeth looking at her, and covered herself up with an arm again. "What?" "You're just so porcelain cute it's disgusting," Annabeth responded with a grin "What? I am not!" "You are. You're like a fuckin' china doll. It's ok, people like that whole girly look."

Piper opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of voices just past the door interrupted them. Annabeth glanced at the timer on the wall as Piper quickly stepped from the shower to the evaporator; their fifteen minutes were up. She half-sighed, half-swore under her breath. Piper, wreathed in steam from the water droplets instantly evaporating from her skin, managed to slip her robe around herself before Percy and Leo came in, but Annabeth stayed under the hot stream of water. "It's so freaking cold out there and I'm so comfortable," she managed to plead and snarl at the same time, "I will give one of you an entire week's dessert vouchers if you let me take your shower time."

Percy was already shrugging out of his sleep gear, his eyes traveling up and down Annabeth's body as he did so. She returned the glance unabashedly. Pre-Academy physical training had turned the skinny boy into quite a muscular man. Annabeth's eyes roved across his olive skin, noting that it contrasted nicely with his black hair. He was just a few inches taller than her, and when her eyes finally met his a shiver ran down her spine.

"Eh, not a huge fan of dessert," he smiled. Leo was giving her an appreciative glance as well, but he seemed much more interested in getting into the warm water himself; he slipped out of his clothes and under the unoccupied shower in the space of a few seconds. Piper had already left the room, wrapped in her robe but still shivering. "You suck, I hate you, I'm cold," Annabeth complained, stepping out of the water and instantly regretted it as goosebumps rose on her shivering skin. "Well I didn't say we couldn't work something out..there's no way I'm giving up my time, but we can share," Percy wiggled his eyebrows at her with an exaggerated lewd expression, grinning as he stepped into the recently vacated shower. "I know you're joking, but fuck it's cold," Annabeth wavered for about half a second, then stepped under the warm water with him, turning her back on his look of surprise..

"I should make stupid jokes more often," he chuckled, and he was close enough that she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. Even though she was no longer cold, the goosebumps stayed raised. "You can look but no touching," she said over her shoulder, sticking her tongue out. Percy shrugged agreeably, "worth a little less space in the shower" he replied. The shower head registered both of their body signatures and adjusted the temperature to an average of their preferences, raising the heat just a bit.

"Ooooh my gooood" Annabeth moaned out loud, as the heat and steam seemed to melt her strained muscles. As soon as she moaned she felt Percy's member harden and press into her rear. "Hey there," she giggled, "I said no touching didn't I?" "What?" Percy's voice was defensive, "There's not a lot of room for two people in here." "Well then maybe you shouldn't be swinging that thing around," Annabeth smiled. Though she loved giving Percy a hard time, she actually didn't mind the feeling against her bottom, warm and firm and slick with water, "maybe you should take care of that some time." "I wish," Percy pulled his hips away, out of the water. Annabeth felt slightly disappointed as warmth left and Percy continued, "There's never enough time." "Ugh, tell me about it," Annabeth agreed, "let alone enough privacy. It gets freaking frustrating, I feel like there's constantly a fire between my legs." "…you did that on purpose," Percy complained, as his member pressed against her again, and she grinned. "Maybe. Maybe I like the warmth." "That's not a very nice thing to do when we've already established I can't jerk off around the other guys." "And the other guys appreciate that, believe me." Leo broke in.

"Well if we can't take care of ourselves, isn't that all the more reason to be nice to each other?" Annabeth started slowly shifting her ass, taking advantage of the slickness to slide it up and down his length. Percy sucked in a breath, and although he didn't say anything, she could tell from the slight trembling that he was stopping himself from pushing forward. "…and I can be very nice when I want to be," she added softly, shooting a suggestive look over her shoulder to gauge his reaction. "Oh come on! How is that any better?" Leo complained from the next shower over, "I'm standing right here." "Your own fault for listening," Annabeth laughed, but her conversation with Piper weighed on her. Much as it would be nice to scratch an itch that had been plaguing her for a week, It wasn't worth introducing tension into the squad, "it's fine, you've got a point. No being nice for an audience then."

Percy's disappointment was almost palpable, "Cockblocked by my own squad mate!" he groaned, half-serious, and leaned back, away from her. Stealing a glance at Leo to make sure his back was still turned, Annabeth stepped back as well, grinding her butt into Percy, trapping his shaft between his stomach and her ass. "So are either of you finding it as rough to adjust as I am?" She asked, keeping the conversation going so that Leo wouldn't look over his shoulder and note how close they were behind the frosted glass. "Oh you know, same as for everyone else in the squad I guess," Annabeth was glad Leo answered; Percy's breathing was coming out in shallow pants as she grinded against him, trapping his member between her butt cheeks and working them up and down. "It takes a lot of adjustment to get used to such a harsh schedule…but there's the luxuries too, the benefits of living on a better supplied orbital station."

"Yea, I don't miss living on Minera, that's true. Worse food, less space, fewer amazing showers," Annabeth enjoyed how casual and level she was able to keep her voice as she began moving her hips in circles, sliding smooth skin across Percy's head as she moved up and down, from side to side, "and I think it's also helpful to have each other for support." "I agree, it's good to have squaddies to lean on." Leo replied, then added after a moment "even the perverted ones." Annabeth turned sharply to look at the divider, but Leo' back was still to the glass, apparently oblivious. Percy was thrusting against her now, all attempts at subtlety forgotten as he responded to her rubbing. The combination of friction and slickness was turning Annabeth on, but even better was Percy's clear desire for her. When he grabbed her hips, nails digging into sensitive skin as if he couldn't help himself, Annabeth almost came, even though he hadn't yet touched her where she wanted it most.

The timers above them made a small pinging noise, and the water cut off. Annabeth bit her lip hard to keep from whimpering as the two of them separated, both breathing heavily and nowhere near satisfied. "Ooh, tough luck you two," Leo grinned, stepping out of his shower, "gotta suck getting interrupted like that." "Interrupted doing what?" Annabeth's face grew hot, but she grinned in spite of herself, "we were just having a conversation!" "Yea, well, I feel bad for you," he chuckled, stepping into the evaporator. "Any conversation that has you both panting and gasping like that probably won't be fun to have stuck in your heads all day." Annabeth's grin slowly dropped from her face as she was suddenly very aware of the burning hunger between her legs. "Son of a bitch" she growled.

"Jeez Annie, if I'd known you were whoring yourself out for some shower time, I'd've offered you mine," Jason joked as Leo, Percy, and Annabeth re-entered the barracks. "It's funny that 15 minutes of shower time is all you think your dick is worth" Annabeth replied. For some reason Jason's lascivious humor never seemed as cute as Leo or Percy's. Maybe because even though his words were lighthearted, it sometimes felt as if he weren't joking. "She didn't whore herself, nothing happened," Percy pulled on his uniform as he spoke; Annabeth was surprised at the disappointment she felt watching his skinny but muscled chest being hidden by its crisp grey lines, "we just shared a shower, Leo can testify."

"Leo is staying completely out of this one," Leo was already dressed and checking the screen by his bunk for new updates, "whatever sordid and X-rated things happened in that shower, it's between the two of them." "It's ok Petcy, you don't need to defend me," Annabeth finished dressing and rose from her bunk, "if Jason thinks I'd do something just for a few minutes longer in the showers, nothing's going to change his opinion of me." She layered the guilt on a little heavily, but Jason's joke had uncharacteristically bothered her. To his credit, Jason looked a little ashamed of himself at her words. "Aw I was just poking fun, I didn't actually mean it," he muttered, a little sheepishly. Annabeth made a mental note to stick to her own allotted shower time from now on.

"Tactical III: Squad Maneuvers" was an optional class, which meant only about a quarter of the rookies in Annabeth's year had signed up for it. Unfortunately for her and her squad mates, their instructor Captain Appet was dedicated to holding her squad to the highest of standards. For the four boys and five girls that made up her squad, the class was mandatory, making them the only rookie squad with every member signed up for the class. On the plus side, this meant they had an entire class session to themselves, twice a week. The rookies were seated now around the large circular table, the wide space in the middle of the table projecting a holographic sphere as its standby screen.

Captain Appet and Tactics Instructor Athena sat together on the far side of the table from the door as the squad filed in. Annabeth sat a few seats down from the pair, and smiled when Piper took the one next to her; she was glad their conversation hadn't frightened the shy girl off. Jason took a seat on her other side, and after a moment Annabeth turned to give him a smile as well. No matter how much he irked her, they would be squaddies. Love or hate him, he would eventually be closer than a brother to her, so she might as well make an effort. Leo sat on Jason's other side, next to the Captain. Two other girls, Clarisse and Thalia, sat on Piper's other side, followed by Percy directly across from Annabeth, Nico, and Bianca.

"Welcome, Rooks," Captain Appet began, and Annabeth's eyes narrowed. When the Captain was in a good enough mood to use nicknames, it meant either she was about to go very easy or very hard on them. "Today we're going to skip the theory and get down to the practical; we're going to set up a ten-way virtual squadron battle." As she spoke, Athena had been fiddling with the virtual keyboard in front of him. As the Captain spoke, lights began to form above the table's surface; holographic fleets of spheres, in ten different colors. At the same time, a virtual keyboard glowed in front of each of the rookies and Captain Appet, their colors matching the spheres.

"The keyboards will send orders to the holographic drones," Captain Appet explained, typing a few symbols and sending a green sphere plunging towards the table, then slowly raising up again, "we've scaled the size down quite a bit of course, but otherwise the holograms will respond and behave exactly the same as a real drone on a planetary run. Athena is going to be taking notes on your tactics, which he'll share with all of you via the squad forum this evening."

Annabeth experimentally keyed in a few of the controls, testing the movement, figuring out how to send orders to multiple drones at once. From the bobbing and rotating of some of the other colors, she could see some of the quicker squaddies had the same idea. Captain Appet continued. "Now in real life these drones are bloody expensive, so to simulate the pain and loss you'd feel wasting money, the last person with drones remaining will get a full week of dessert vouchers…taken from the first person to lose all of their drones. Start!"

In the space of twenty seconds, Annabeth learned more about her squad mates as she had in the entire past week. Each swarm of drones separated into their colors and began moving tactically, and she was glad to notice that all of them moved with purpose. She would rather have a clever squad mate when the real action came, even if that made it harder to win this particular battle. Fifteen drones in red, lavender, and yellow immediately swarmed toward the middle of the table; Nico, Jason, and Thalia all had the idea to take control of the battlefield right from the start.

Aggressive, reckless…but really good for them if they can pull it off, Annabeth thought, drawing her drones back and low, keeping them out of the way and simply watching the conflict. Most of the others were playing it cautiously as well, spreading to give themselves coverage but not coming within range of any of the others until they could tell how the battle in the middle played out. The purple drones that belonged to Leo were cautiously approaching the center, clearly planning to take advantage of the fight to score shots against the occupied forces, but his movements left his entire flank wide open to Captain Appet's drones. With a few easy keystrokes the Captain's drones speared forward viciously, splitting Leo' forces in half and wiping them out with miniature holographic explosions while only losing a single one of her own.

"What the hell!" Leo spluttered, the light from his keyboard slowly going out in front of him, "I figured you'd wait until I did a little damage to them!" "Why wait?" Captain Appet laughed, pulling her drones back to a safe position, "What, did you think I was going to go easy on you Leo?" "No, I just…" Leo frowned and folded his arms, trailing off. "Well, you saved me from giving up my desserts at least," Thalia sighed, as her final yellow ship burst into holographic fragments, "so thanks for um…trying to screw me over I guess," she winked.

"Yea, yea," Leo muttered, but he half-smiled back as he watched the rest of the battle play out. Nico muttered a curse under his breath as the final red drone winked out as well. Jason's victory over the middle placed him in an advantageous position over everyone else, but the fighting had only left him with one drone; with no backup it was exposing its vulnerable rear no matter which way it pointed.

"Aaah shit, I didn't think this one through," Jason chuckled, rotating the lavender drone in circles so that whoever made the first move would at least suffer a little damage. Annabeth considered making a move for the middle, but she knew the second she moved that one of the remaining five would make her pay for it. While she wavered back and forth, Piper made her move. It happened suddenly and smoothly; the pink drones moving so close to the surface of the table that it looked as if they were skating on the surface itself. They were spread out far enough and moving fast enough that none of them made a particularly good target, and before anyone could decide on an action she had all five skitting across the table taking shots from below at everyone's drones. It didn't take long for the remaining drones to raise high enough from the table to get out of her range, but she had managed in less than a minute to destroy several, one of Annabeth's included.

"Now look at what you've done Cap," Clarisse joked, pulling her two remaining drones high only to lose them both to Captain Appet's waiting forces, "You've turned our sweet innocent Piper into a reckless monster!" The slow-mounting pressure at the table broke as everyone broke into chuckles, and Annabeth hadn't realized how tense her hands had been until the tension was released. Even Piper laughed, although she stopped when the Captain's drones swooped down, capitalizing on the pink drones' low altitude by firing shots that nudged them down into the surface of the table, exploding into pink light.

Annabeth had been trying to play relatively defensively, keeping her drones in a group and firing en mass to drive off any drones that got close. It had worked well for her so far, and she was feeling good about her three remaining drones, the same number as Captain Appet had, until she glanced across the table. Five blue spheres of light hovered in front of Percy's face, and he was grinning at her.

"You're not even trying!" Annabeth accused, and his grin only widened. "I already told you, I'm not a huge fan of desserts," he said, picking off the last of Bianca's gray holographs. He shrugged, maneuvering his drones to carefully hover just out of range of danger, "plus it seems to be working out for me." "Okay, okay fine, what are you a huge fan of?" Annabeth asked through her teeth, "Because full disclosure; I can't tell you how much I want to wipe that dumb grin off your face right now." Percy didn't answer for a moment, carefully darting his drones back as Captain Appet feinted forward, trying to make him attack.

"I'll tell you what," he finally said, his grin becoming a little more sly, "if I beat you, we finish the conversation we were having this morning." Leo leaned his head back and laughed, while the other squaddies looked back and forth between the them, confused. Annabeth's eyes narrowed, an expression of grim determination spreading on her face. "Alright asshole," she replied, "and when I win, we still finish the conversation, but I'm the only one who's allowed to…um….'talk'". "Deal."

"Hold on," Captain Appet looked vaguely amused…does she know what we're talking about? Annabeth wondered, embarrassed, "I'm still in this fight too, what do I get if I win?" the Captain finished, a grin on her face. Well I guess that answers that. The Captain wouldn't joke like that. Annabeth and Percy's eyes met across the table, and by unspoken agreement both swarms of drones moved at almost the same time. The Captain's drones didn't stand a chance as the two swarms pinned them on both sides, sending a spray of white holographic sparks as her drones were obliterated. While the Captain simply laughed, Annabeth and Percy immediately tried to press the advantage against each other, drones darting and wheeling aggressively. Though she wished it was due to confident skill and easy multitasking ability, Annabeth had to admit as Percy's final drone exploded that it was probably due more to luck than anything. Her squaddies cheered as Percy bowed his head in acknowledgment; he was still grinning, but somehow Annabeth didn't mind it so much anymore.

"Alright, good class everyone," Captain Appet clapped her hands together to gain their attention, "this simulation will be available at all hours, just sign in. This is training for actual maneuvers we'll be running as a team, so I can't stress how important it is to get comfortable with these controls. From here on out I'll be requiring at least five games a week from each of you, either on your own or in groups. That said, I'm requiring a two-to-one win ratio for each of you, so you'll have to play on your own at least some of the time. The computer will play AI drones if you're on your own, and it'll track your stats as well. Okay, we wrapped that up a little early, so enjoy the free time before breakfast. See you in the mess hall."

The rookies slowly dispersed from the room, chatting back and forth, leaving in groups of two or three. After Athena jotted down the last of his notes, he left as well, mumbling something about "excellent battlefield control". Eventually only Annabeth and Percy were left, a half smile on his face, a smug grin on hers. The room was quiet as the chatter drifted down the hallway outside, and the door slid closed behind them.

"I'd just like you to know," Percy broke the silence, "that after the shower this morning, you being the only one to finish now is exceptionally cruel." He stood and slowly walked around the table towards Annabeth as he continued, "in fact I think there are some Academy laws against torture that this bet is about to violate." "Aww, I didn't even think about how rough this would be for you…" Annabeth's triumphant smile gave way to a look of concern, "now I feel bad" "You do? Really?" "Absolutely!" Annabeth struggled, keeping the concerned look up until the last moment, "I guess I really don't know what it feels like to lose so badly, it's hard for me to think of how that must feel."

There was a pause as they stared at each other, him in stunned silence, her with the smug grin back and plastered on her face. "…you're a real jerk sometimes Annie, you know that?" Percy asked, but his grin was so wide it matched hers. "Yep!" Annabeth agreed cheerfully, "but I'm a jerk who's about to have a tongue between her legs." She leaned back and gestured downwards imperiously, clearly enjoying herself. Percy made a face at her. Leaning over the keyboard in front of her, he hit the sequence of buttons Captain Appet had indicated. Annabeth's eyes widened. "Oh no!" He said in apparent shock, as holographic drones rose from the table, "It looks like I just accidentally started a new game for you!" "You asshole!" Annabeth shouted, lunging forward to punch at keys.

Percy was kneeling at the foot of her chair, still chuckling, "Oh dear! I hope nothing happens to distract you! It'd be a shame to lose and have to add more simulations to your schedule…" His hands moved to the waist of Annabeth's pants and unsnapped the fastener at her waist. "OK…" Annabeth gritted her teeth, pressing keys that arranged her drones in a small circle while she counted the white AI drones that circled around the table's surface. "Okay, you want to play, Percy? Fine. I think there's something you should be doing with your tongue instead of mouthing off." Lifting her ass to let him pull her uniform pants down, Annabeth focused on the simulation. As soon as she felt his tongue on her, Annabeth knew she was in serious trouble. He hadn't dove right in, instead simply flicking the very tip of his tongue across her mound, running it through the bush she kept neatly trimmed.

"How neat and tidy," Percy murmured, and she could feel a pressure beginning to build inside of her, "I never really appreciate the attention to detail until I'm close enough to…well, appreciate it." His mouth was so close to her skin, but he wasn't touching her, just speaking, and she could feel his warm breath across places that she ached to have touched.

"Still mouthing off, you really just don't know how to shut up, do you?" Annabeth almost didn't notice when the computer's drones started moving, swarming forward aggressively. As it was she almost wasn't able to dodge their very first attack. My reflexes are slow, dammit this isn't good. Percy could feel it too, the way her body tensed as she tried to focus on keying in commands. "Uh-oh," even though she couldn't see his face, Annabeth could tell that he was grinning, "I'm not taking your attention away from anything, am I?"

"Nope, not really," Annabeth responded, gritting her teeth against the warring feelings of the warmth inside of her and the warmth coming from the man on his knees in front of her, "as a matter of fact, your annoying smugness is only spurring me on towards victory." She was trying to make it true, organizing her drones in a loose pattern that would let her stay defensive if she lost focus for a few moments.

"Oh, is that a fact?" Percy sounded like he was enjoying himself, "well let's see how long that lasts." Annabeth opened her mouth to snap back a response, but Percy suddenly licked, sliding the entire length of his tongue up across her clit, and it was all that she could manage to not make a noise. Yep, definitely in trouble.

The AI drones were moving again, and belatedly Annabeth moved her own in response. As she tried with all of her might to focus on the game in front of her, Percy was showing similar focus. His tongue moved in slow, smooth yet unpredictable motions. Just when she thought she could follow the pattern enough to tune it out, he changed it. One moment he would be plunging his tongue inside of her, pausing only long enough to feel her quivering, and the next he would be flicking it lightly across her skin, not touching the most sensitive areas, barely making contact at all.

As amazing as his tongue felt inside and on her, Annabeth was taking deep breaths. Aside from involuntarily squirming when he happened to hit just the right spot, she was surprised at how much she could focus and calm herself. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard to deal with the strategies the computer was throwing at her, sending drones circling and spinning with her intuition. She had already managed to whittle them down to half their number, and she hadn't given Percy the satisfaction of hearing her moan once.

"Huh, looks like even with everything stacked against me, I'm still managing to win," she commented lightly, half smiling when Percy looked up at her. His eyes, a green color resembling the sea, met hers as he started flicking his tongue directly against her clit, without stopping, without mercy. Annabeth almost lost both her train of thought and control of her drones. With a conscious effort she pulled her focus back to her taunting, "It's probably pretty embarrassing for you, me being so good at tactics that I can win even with you down there."

Without any warning, in one fluid motion, Percy slid two fingers inside of her, pressing her G-spot at the same time he pressed against her clit with his tongue.

"Fuck!" Annabeth gasped, her entire body tensing and twitching with the sudden unexpected pleasure that shot from his fingers all the way up her spine. Her hands clenched and she involuntarily dragged them across the keyboard, sending half of her drones crashing into the table and exploding.

"Oh I'm sorry, you were saying something?" Percy looked up innocently, while at the same time making small circles inside of her with his fingers. "Fuck fuck fuck," Annabeth didn't know if she was swearing at him, at the loss of her drones, or at the shocks of bliss building up between her legs. Probably a bit of all three. She could barely form a conscious thought in her head as he went back to licking, now sliding his fingers in and out of her in a steady rhythm. Her hands went back to the keyboard, and with what little focus she could muster she looked at the lights that seemed to be spinning on the table. Her fingers seemed to fly of their own accord, sending the pink points of light flying in response.

"Not yet, not ye-et," she panted, trying with everything she had to ignore how wet she was, how weak her legs were, how much she wanted to let herself go and release the sexual pressure that was so real she could feel it in her skin. She distracted herself with the game, spinning the lone drone in her control across the table, playing with a frenzy she didn't realize she had. The last AI drone exploded, and a half second later Annabeth let herself go. Her legs had somehow gotten wrapped around Percy, and she pulled him forward as she came. His fingers were deep, deep inside of her, and she could feel herself clamp down on them, feel the walls of her pussy trembling and quivering. Her nails dug into the seat of the chair, and despite how desperately she didn't want to give him the satisfaction, she couldn't help but let out a single, long, moan. "FUCK" she screamed the word as she reached the peak of her orgasm, her whole body shaking and bucking against his fingers and tongue.

As the soft blue glow from the keyboard slowly went out, Annabeth leaned back in the chair, spent. "You're still an asshole," she panted "An asshole who's pretty good at that?" Percy leaned back on his heels, Annabeth didn't deny it, but couldn't resist needling him as she hiked her uniform pants back up; "It's just too bad you're not as good at drone tactics. Plus, I have to point out, apparently not good enough at that to keep me from winning." She gestured towards the single blue drone hovering near the middle of the table. There was a moment of silence that could easily turn to awkwardness, but she stood and offered a hand to pull Percy to his feet. "I'm thoroughly hungry now. Breakfast?"

As the two made their way from the simulation room, she pondered aloud, "So you know we've got flight training this afternoon? I'll bet I score higher than you." "Are you kidding? I'll wipe the floor with your feeble efforts. What do you want to bet?" "Oh I'm sure we can think of something…"


	3. Piper's Problem

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

* * *

><p>"Four minutes remaining." Piper was sure that the cold robotic voice was speaking directly to her. It didn't matter that she could look to her left or right to see her squaddies climbing the rock wall around her. It didn't matter that the other rookies were sweating, straining, and in pain as they scaled the surface just like she was. No, at this moment as her muscles screamed at her and her vision blurred Piper knew that the cold, metallic voice was aimed solely at her.<p>

One hand up. Look for the hook. Grab. Pull up. One hand up. She let the mantra repeat in her head, trying to ignore the fact that even the slowest of her fellow squaddies had made it to the top. Her arms stung, trembling whenever she pulled herself higher. The joints in her fingers were on fire. She tried to distract herself by doing the math; she was forced up this wall three days a week, and she had been at the Academy for three weeks. Ten times on this hateful surface. On their first attempt, Captain Appet had assured them all that the course would get easier, that they would soon be able to finish the whole course in the twenty minutes. She told them that someday they would find it easy to run the mile, scale the wall, and make it safely through the attack track to grab one of the nine pendants that hung on hooks at the end of the track.

"Three minutes remaining," the emotionless voice droned, as Piper finally reached the top of the climbing wall, pulling herself up inch by agonizing inch until she was resting firmly at the top. Nico had taken his pendant on his second day on the course. The rest of her squadmates had followed his example, eventually being able to get their pendants within the time limit as well. Boosted by the extra hours of physical training given to anyone who didn't win their pendant, even the weaker members of her squad had started finishing the course in twenty minutes.

Piper dragged herself to her feet and began running, each breath burning her lungs. The track loomed in front of her, and she wobbled slightly. The first hurdle sprang, spring-loaded, from the track, and she jumped it purely from muscle memory. She forgot about the second trap, a small laser that slammed into her back after a small audio alarm. It sent her sprawling on her stomach.

"One minute remaining." It was possible she missed the two-minute warning, but Piper was willing to believe that the voice was being vindictive, just to her. She wouldn't be able to make it. Her eyes filled with tears as she rolled over onto her back, staring up at the far wall, a row of empty hooks to hold pendants. Blinking away tears, she half-turned to check again, shouldn't mine still be up there?

"Ten seconds. Nine seconds." As the final time began counting down, Piper's view was obscured by Jason, jogging down his own track. With his pendant already collected, the traps and attacks had been de-activated, and his pace was easy and light.

"You look pretty beat," he had stopped next to her, hands in his pockets, a smile on his face. Piper tried not to swear, she simply groaned and turned her head away. A small weight fell on her chest, and she looked down to find her pendant, letters glowing in her name around the edge.

"Thought you could use a break," Jason somehow managed to act both offhanded and smug at the same time, and jogged off before she had time to respond. "Time over," The robotic voice droned, and for the first time added "No pendants remain." Piper clasped her pendant in her hand, completely confused.

"I don't know, Piper, it's not like Jason is some monster, incapable of being decent once in a while." Annabeth pointed out, as she spooned another bite of protein paste into her mouth and grimaced. "You have to admit, it's out of character for him," Piper spoke lower. She leaned towards her friend, more worried than Annabeth that Jason might hear them from the other end of the table, "he's not the kind of person who just does something for nothing." "Well ok, maybe we haven't seen him do something for nothing, but so what? We've known each other for, what, a month?" "Is that really all? It feels like longer." "That's all. For all we know, Jason could have some hidden depths." "No," Piper shook her head, "we know Jason. He did it to get something, or maybe he just wants me to owe him a favor." She was even more sure as she said it out loud, even though Annabeth was shaking her head. The more she thought about it, the angrier it made her. How dare he make that decision for me? She hadn't asked for his help, and she'd been handling her extra physical training just fine, although if she was being honest with herself, the prospect of her first day without the extra hour of physical training was wonderful.

Piper lapsed into silence as she stewed for the entire length of the meal, and continued dwelling on the incident throughout the afternoon. She hated being the "fragile" one in her squad. Annabeth had mentioned it before, how Piper's skin, tiny stature, and chocolate brown hair made her look like a porcelain doll. In another life, she would've valued her delicate looks, but here it had become her bane. My squaddies feel sorry for me…my friends feel like they have to carry me…and Jason thinks he can take advantage of me. By the end of the rookies' final class she had worked herself into a fit of indignation. She stalked into the barracks bristling and ready to take offense at the slightest provocation.

Jason was leaning back in a chair, tossing his pendant into the air and catching it again. Nico and Annabeth lay in their respective bunks, reading on their respective tablets. Bianca was lounging at the card table in the corner, hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling. Thalia and Percy had linked their tablets together to play a game. Clarisse and Leo were elsewhere, forced to spend their small amount of free time to make up for various failures in training. Piper technically should've been out with them, and she blushed when she realized it. The indignation and resentment that had been boiling inside her burst out before she could stop it.

"How dare you!" She shouted, and the entire barracks suddenly went quiet. Her face went hot as the entire room of her squad mates stared, startled and confused. For a moment Piper tried to remember if she had ever raised her voice with her squaddies before. Jason looked the most shocked of all, his head cocked to one side inquisitively, and his look of innocence enraged Piper into continuing at the same volume. "What, am I just some charity case to you, is that it? 'Poor weak blushing Piper'?" she knew she wasn't doing herself favors by flushing, and she blinked away tears as she almost screamed the rest, "you figured you'd better carry me along so I stopped embarrassing the team?" "I'm gonna see if they've got something to snack on in mess," Bianca stood suddenly and made her way past Piper, followed awkwardly and silently by Thalia and Percy. Annabeth grabbed Nico by the wrist as she too left. On her way out she mouthed something at Piper with a pained look, but Piper simply shook her head, too angry to process what her friend was trying to say.

Jason was on his feet now, crossing his arms and lifting his chin in a look that was somewhere between confusion, defensiveness, and hostility. "What the fuck are you so mad about?" "You think I'm too weak to take care of myself? Or do you think I owe you now?" Now that Piper was alone with him the situation didn't seem quite so clear cut. The conversation had gone a lot smoother in her head, and she was starting to feel self conscious. "You weren't gonna get the pendant so I got you the pendant, what's the fucking problem?" Jason shot back, "why does it have to be some big deal?" "It is a big deal!" Piper squeaked, regretting the words even as they were leaving her mouth, "Maybe I wanted to get the pendant on my own! Maybe I don't want to be the weak little fragile doll that everyone has to take care of!" "I don't think you're a doll-" "And I don't want you lording it over me, acting like I owe you a favor now!" "Who said anything about a favor?" Jason looked so helpless and frustrated that Piper's anger was starting to fade away. "I just don't want to owe anyone anything," she mumbled, embarrassed and slightly ashamed now that her anger was wearing off. "Ok, you don't owe me anything," Jason placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at her closely, "I told you already, I just did it 'cause you looked like you needed a break." Piper felt awful, and the kind action of the hand on her shoulder was so unlike Jason that she felt even worse. I wouldn't think he's the type to be kind like this. I would expect him to make some horrible joke about giving him a blowjob to even the scales. She blushed at the thought, and immediately hated herself for it. I don't want to be the blushing innocent teammate. Just once, I want to be the smooth girl who's in control.

The thought came to her unbidden; a way to become the smooth woman in control and to not feel beholden to Jason anymore. "Um..can you…" no, don't ask him to do it, tell him to do it. "Sit down on the bed there," she commanded. She was already blushing furiously at what she was about to do, but she was also steeling herself up for it. To his credit, Jason had obeyed, sitting on the edge of the nearest bunk and giving her a confused look. That tiny bit of obedience gave Piper a little bit of confidence, and she knelt on her knees beside the bed. She reached forward and hooked two thumbs into his waistband…then stopped. I can't pull his pants down, he's sitting on them…STUPID she berated herself. "Stand up again," she ordered. "But you just told me to sit, you're being confusing." Jason was now looking at her so thoroughly puzzled that Piper felt foolish once again. "If you want me to suck your dick then you'll stand up and shut up and I'll be as confusing as I fucking want to be." Piper had never in her life said anything so dirty, and she rarely swore, but she was quite pleased at the effect her words had. Jason stood up so fast he cracked his head against the bunk above him, wincing slightly but staying silent. That's more like it, she thought with satisfaction, and without another word she reached up and slid his pants down.

Piper didn't quite know why she had always assumed Jason had a small penis. Perhaps she just guessed from all of his blustering that he was compensating for something. Whatever the reason, when his member sprang from the fabric of his pants, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't small at all, about the length of her hand from wrist to fingertips. As she gently took his length in one delicate hand, Piper felt a surge of…it wasn't lust exactly, but excitement. He was so hard, just at the suggestion of what she was about to do. She looked up at him to see him staring down at her, his green eyes filled with such a ferocious lust that she was taken aback. The look on his face, the man's slavic features full of desire for her, and knowing she had done that, brought a grin to Piper's face. Who's fragile now?

Very deliberately and delicately, Piper flicked her tongue out and slid it in a circle around the head of his cock. She could feel his pulse quicken against her slender fingers as she held him. Sliding those fingers up and down his shaft, she kept on swirling her tongue in circles, combining two motions and hoping it felt as good as she imagined. Jason's hips bucked forward just a tiny bit, as if against his will, and she felt a glow inside her. Piper began licking his member, long strokes of her tongue that slid from his head down his shaft, all the way to the base. The tips of her fingers brushed against his balls as she alternated licking and kissing, never in the same place twice, carefully holding his length exactly where she wanted it. He was breathing so hard, his whole body tense with enjoyment of what she was doing. She felt powerful and more in control that she ever had her entire time at the Academy.

The others would be back soon; at the very least she had to worry about schedule bells ringing off the next shift. Piper didn't want the feeling of power to be diminished, she wanted him to remember this. She looked up, trying to catch his eye, but his were closed, his head thrown back. Instead, she leaned forward and took him in her mouth, still twirling her tongue in circles around his head. Jason moaned out loud, and his hands moved to her head, brushing against her scalp and pushing her towards him further. At the same time, his hips thrust forward, pushing himself even further into her mouth.

Piper leaned back, smiling at the moan her actions drew from him, and slapped the hands that were on her head. "This is my repayment, no interfering," she ordered. Jason obediently placed his hands behind his back, and again Piper felt the surge of power in the control she had over him. She bathed in his attention, meeting his eyes again as she leaned forward slowly, carefully kissing him on the very tip. This is…so much more fun than I thought it would be she thought, watching his lips part as he sucked in a quick breath. She kept on kissing, trying to move so lightly that he could barely feel her lips brushing against sensitive skin. She felt and saw a shiver pass through Jason's body, and decided to finish him off.

Piper took a deep breath, and in a quick motion took him in her mouth, grabbing his hips and pulling him forward, deeper, until his entire length was in her mouth and throat. Jason cried out in shock and pleasure, and Piper saw his hands move to grab her head again, but then move back behind his back. She was glad; it was harder than she thought to keep her throat relaxed, and if he had slammed himself forward like he had before, she didn't know if she could keep from gagging.

For awhile she continued on like that, first taking him in her mouth as deep as she could, then slowly pulling back, trying to swirl her tongue around to vary the sensations along his cock. After a while she even got the hang of relaxing her throat, and she started increasing the pace of her bobbing, taking her cues from how his hips were moving and bucking.

"Fuck that's good Piper" Jason breathed, and his hands moved to her head, but instead of pushing her, his fingers simply stroking her head, brushing against her scalp. His fingers felt surprisingly nice running through her hair, and hearing her name like that felt nice as well; she decided not to move his hands away as she felt his member pulsing against her tongue as he came. Her mouth filled with his salty fluid, and she was relieved to find it wasn't as disgusting tasting as some of her girl friends had told her it would be.

Piper looked up, to find Jason fixing her with a look that was halfway between confusion and adoration. She found the look adorable, and she liked the feeling that the adulation in his green eyes was giving her. Leaning back, Piper pulled his pants up over his spent member, and stood, meeting his eyes. Her eyes never leaving his, she swallowed with an exaggerated motion. Jason made a small sound in the back of his throat that might've been an attempt at words, then a second attempt. "What was…why…" he stuttered, and despite herself Piper grinned "Now we're even, favor for favor," she pointed out, "you helped me on the track, and even though it's not what I wanted, you had good intentions. I felt like I owed you one." Feeling more confident than she had since she'd come to the Academy, she twirled on her heel and walked to the door. A thought occurred to her, and she turned at the door to point at him, "But if you grab my pendant again, I'll do something to you that you won't enjoy nearly as much."

The screaming alarm shook them awake, different in pitch and tone than their normal morning alarm. Piper stumbled out of bed, disoriented, and glanced at the clock above the door. 0132 hours…what on earth? The lights came on, but a pair of red lights flashed above the door in addition. Adrenaline shot through her, waking her up instantly, and judging from the sudden rush of motion from her squaddies, she wasn't the only one. She jolted into action with them, yanking the next day's uniform from the drawer built into her bunk. The alarm stopped blaring, letting her string actual thoughts together in a tired mind, but red lights continued to flash. The squaddies had awakened enough to begin talking as they pulled on uniforms, grabbing additional gear as they went. "Red priority, shit, I can't remember what that means, which alerts count as red?" Percy was asking as he struggled to put both shirt and belt on at the same time. Piper racked her memory, but the alarm codes had seemed so unimportant compared to the other things she had to learn. She listened as well as she pulled her sleepwear off and stumbled into her uniform. "Red is on-board invaders, Drake attacks, structural damage," Clarisse was rattling off the alerts from the edge of her bed as she slipped boots on, "pretty much anything that threatens to kill people on the Academy itself." Her words did little to reassure Piper. She slid the sealing toggle of her uniform up, and only then realized that her squaddies were giving her strange looks, especially the boys.

It suddenly struck her that she had just stripped and changed without a care at all. For the rest of them, it had only taken a week for them to be comfortable changing around each other. For the nine of them to live and train together, constantly change between flight suits, workout clothes, orbital uniforms, and maintenance gear, privacy was just too much of a hassle. Piper, on the other hand, had gone through the hassle every time; besides Annabeth in the showers, none of them had never seen her naked. Even now, realizing that she had just shown everything from her small breasts to the neat patch of hair between her legs, she didn't feel anything like the horrified embarrassment she always assumed she would. Instead, the confidence she had felt twelve hours ago made her look at her past reservations seem silly. I've had Jason in my mouth, it would be silly to be embarrassed being just as naked as everyone else gets. It's not like they've never seen a nude girl before. With a mental shrug, Piper began slipping on her boots, ignoring the attention she was getting.

"What, Jason, no skeezy jokes about Piper's boobs that make us want to punch you?" Nico joked, clearly trying to lighten the mood in the quiet and tense barracks. He pre-emptively punched Jason playfully in the shoulder. "They're nice," Jason glanced in Piper's direction then back at the belt he was fastening around his waist, "but now's not the time." The attention of the room now turned to Jason, who had earned himself a reputation over the past month as a misogynistic jerk. "Well that's…out of character," Nico began, clearly echoing the thoughts of the squad that was growing more and more confused, but before he could continue, the door to the barracks slid open and Captain Appet stepped into the room. The whole room seemed to calm when she entered, her gaze sweeping the barracks.

"The other newbie squads are all still scrambling. Your response time is roughly the same as the corporals who are responding to the emergency. Well done Rooks." Captain Appet said, a grim satisfaction on her features, "remember that the next time you think I'm going too hard on you. It's working." "We won't be helping?" Piper asked, concerned, "What's going on?" "It's a Drake. Earth class," Captain Appet replied, shortly, "We plan on letting you Rooks handle emergencies that come up, but we can't have you on something this dangerous." The rookies relaxed a little bit, but remained uneasy. The Captain seemed to pick up on their unease, "Relax, the squads we're sending out have dealt with Drakes before, myself included. I won't say this is routine, but we're not anticipating any losses. That said, this will most likely take us all day, so classes are cancelled. Get some sleep, take a day to relax. Everyone except Piper." Piper's stomach dropped as her squad mates turned to look at her. The confidence she had been slowly building since the preceding day seemed to shatter as she quietly asked, "What did I do?" "Nothing too egregious," Captain Appet answered, sternly but not unkindly, "the pendants have fingerprint sensors embedded in them, that tell us which rookie grabbed them. I'll expect you to have a pendant for me by the time I return, and I expect you to get it yourself. No matter how long it takes." With that Captain Appet left, leaving the room full of awkward silence.

"I, uh…I guess I owe you a favor now," Jason broke the silence sheepishly, rubbing his neck, "it's only fair, right?" "No," Piper snapped, turning her back to him. Her fists were clenched and she was shaking with embarrassment, "I didn't mind so much when I thought I owed you, but that was the first time I ever-" she broke off as she realized her entire squad was her audience, but she continued angrily "-my favor was way over the top and you know it. So no, right now I don't want any of your favors. But when I do, you owe me way more than just a favor. You'll owe me double…no, triple the favors I did for you." She could feel her face blushing bright red as the quickly hidden smirk on Percy's face told her that she wasn't being quite as subtle as she meant. "That's bullshit, I was just trying to help you out," Jason retorted hotly, "you don't have to be a bitch about it." Piper saw out of the corner of her eye that Annabeth was about to speak, but she stepped forward and jabbed her finger into Jason's chest. "I know you were," she said, her voice low, "but our entire time here your problem has been not thinking about how your actions affect other people. So I'm going to help you learn that. Every time you're an asshole, you're going to owe me another favor. And I'm going to make sure you pay up. And calling me a bitch makes it five." Without another word Piper spun on her heel and stomped toward the door. "Piper where are you-" Thalia started, and Piper snapped an answer before the other girl finished asking, "If I'm going to get a pendant today I might as well get an early start." On her way out the door, Piper heard the room burst into chatter, highlighted with Bianca' voice. "Fuck, Jason, how much of a dick do you have to be to get Piper to yell at you?"

It was a bruised, sore and tired Piper that returned to the barracks, just after lunchtime. Her legs screamed with each step she took, and she could feel her pulse pounding in her head, the baseline to the raging headache she was nursing. She dragged her feet and absentmindedly ran a hand along her bruised left arm, but clutched in her hand was a sweaty pendant, and she felt a kind of fierce pride. The barracks were empty except for Jason, lounging on his bunk. The room was dim when she entered, lit only by the lights over each individual bunk and the screen Jason seemed to be reading from, and he looked up when she entered. "I told them we should keep the barracks dark when you got back, that you'd probably want to sleep," he said, setting the screen aside. "I do," Piper groaned, wincing as she slumped into her bed, "every muscle I have hurts." He was watching her cautiously, like she was a dog that might bite him, and she smiled tiredly, "and that was…quite nice of you. Thank you Jason." "Yea, whatever," Jason said awkwardly, "oh, and um…I know you'll be hurting too much to want those..uh..'favors' you mentioned," he shifted uncomfortably, not meeting her gaze, "but when you do, I uh, got this." He pulled a small cylinder from beneath his pillow. Piper sat up on one elbow, examining the item. It was a few inches long, with two tiny golden nubs on one side and a white button at its base. "What is it?" She asked, curious in spite of the soreness in the arm that she leaned on. "I spent two weeks of luxury resource tokens on it," Jason replied, still not looking at her, "It's a VTM." Piper gave him a blank look, and he clarified, "a ventral tegmentum manipulator."

It wasn't that she wasn't impressed that he had gone to such lengths for her, but she was too tired to attempt to figure out what a ventral tegmentum was. "What is it?" She repeated "It's a…a relaxation and stress reduction tool" "What is-" "It's a sex toy." Piper stared at Jason's face for what felt like minutes, and then burst into a fit of giggles. "It's not funny!" Jason's face flushed, but his look of injured bewilderment only made Piper laugh harder. The whole thing was just so ridiculous; Jason, the very picture of alpha male swaggering, worried enough about fulfilling his 'favors' that he had spent their only tradable commodity on a toy to make sure she was satisfied. It was so ridiculous, and in an odd way so strangely sweet that Piper felt bad for laughing at him, but the entire scene seemed too surreal for her exhausted mind to handle.

She lay there exhausted, trying to stop the giggling, and Jason stood awkwardly with a toy in his hand, trying to bluster but coming off confused and embarrassed. She curled up as the laughing hurt her aching body, but it felt good to laugh. Jason stepped forward angrily, and pressed the golden nodes of the cylinder against the strip of bare skin between her boot and the leg of her pants. When her entire body clenched, every muscle suddenly tense, Piper thought he had tranquilized her. Her body started quivering, and then suddenly she felt like she was on fire with pleasure. She sucked in a sharp breath as her back arched, her fingers clawed at the sheets. It took her long, fiery seconds to even realize she was having an orgasm, but the word itself didn't seem to explain the chords of pleasure that were singing through her body. Jason pulled the cylinder away, and Piper collapsed onto the bed.

The few seconds of contact had been enough for her to break into a sweat, and she was panting. It took a moment for her to pull herself together, to think about anything but the shivers that were still twitching in her lower spine and legs. The soreness that had permeated her body a few moments ago now felt more like the pleasant ache of a morning stretch. "What…was that?" She finally managed to gasp, and Jason gave a look not unlike a petulant smile. "Not laughing now are you?" He said, and he pressed the gold studs into her ankle again. Piper's legs spasmed, and she fell backwards into bed as the next orgasm hit her. It felt good, amazingly good, but knowing what to expect made it easier to think this time. There was a nervous flutter of fear that tainted each wave of pleasure, of worry. She knew Jason had been trying to be kind, and she knew she shouldn't have laughed at him, but was he getting some kind of vindictive kick out of this? Her stomach clenched and her breathing quickened, and she wanted to succumb to the pleasure that was pulling on every muscle inside her, but she was frightened of the way Jason was standing over her.

"Jason, stop, please stop," she gasped, as soon as she was able to speak through the disorienting feelings of heat and wetness between her legs. To her surprise, Jason stopped immediately, stepping back and waiting for her to catch her breath. Grateful for the reprieve, she let her head flop down on her pillow, not caring that her sweat-drenched hair would leave a damp spot. "You stopped…" she said, uncertainty making it sound like a question. The surprise must've shown on her face, because Jason tilted his head, smiling like she'd made a joke. "Well yea you asked me to," he replied, "what did you think I wasn't going to stop?" The silence stretched between them, and as it continued the smile slowly slipped off of his face. "You thought I wasn't going to stop?" Piper wasn't entirely sure what to say. She had in fact thought that he wasn't going to stop, but she wasn't sure she wanted to admit the fact to him after seeing the horror on his face. Her silence was admission enough on its own, and Jason took a step back. "The fuck…is that really what you think of me? What you all think of me?"

"I don't know…" Piper half shrugged, "you always come off as such a…well a giant douchebag, really. I thought you knew that." Jason was slowly shaking his head, "I knew people thought I was a jerk…I know I can come off that way sometimes…but I didn't know you think I'm the kind of person who would do that." He was sitting on his bed staring off into space, as if he was in shock. He looked so vulnerable, sitting there with that lost look on his face, that Piper's heart seemed to melt. "Hey," she stood, then almost collapsed as she put her weight on legs that were still shaky and weak, "look, you may come off that way, but that doesn't mean you can't change." "I wouldn't even know how. I wouldn't know what to do!" he suddenly looked up, "wait, you could help." "Me? What could I do?" "Well you managed to tell me what I was doing wrong. Twice. Plus you did it in a way that'll stick in my memory," he half smiled, and for an instant the old confident Jason was back, but he then slumped, "no one's ever called me out like that. I thought it was because I was cool…but maybe no one cared enough to correct me? But you're different." "What's so special about me?" Piper leaned against the bed next to him, awkwardly putting a hand on his shoulder because she had no idea what else to do. "I don't know," Jason shrugged, "You're fun to hang out with. And you call me on my shit. And you're good with your mouth. I want to hang out with you all the time." "Plus the stuff with my mouth, you want that all the time too" Piper smiled. He half-grinned in response, and didn't deny it.

"Jason," she fixed him with a quizzical look, "did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?" "What? No." Jason shook his head emphatically, "I just want to hang out and screw you and spend time with you…" he trailed off, "…so I guess, yea, kinda. I just don't like the word 'girlfriend', it sounds so committed…" Piper started giggling again, and the blush creeping up Jason's cheeks made her giggle even harder. The giggling fit on her already shaky legs was too much, and she slipped to the ground, helplessly laughing and looking at him through tears in her eyes. Jason looked half embarrassed, half amused back down at her. "Stop laughing," he grumbled, abashed "or you'll get another hit of the VTM." Piper's giggling fit calmed down, but the smile on her face didn't leave. "Three hits," she said. "What?" "You still owe me three," Piper stretched out an arm, presenting her bare wrist to him from the floor, "and you wouldn't want to break the deal you made with your girlfriend would yo-" her taunting was cut short as Jason pressed the VTM against her wrist, reaching out and gently holding her arm so that the contact wouldn't be broken. The third orgasm seemed to tear through her, and she gasped and moaned as her entire body tingled and then released. She couldn't process a thing beyond the prickling across her skin, beyond how wet she was, beyond how much she wanted these feelings to never, ever stop.

When Jason pulled the VTM away, she moaned in disappointment, her hips lifting from the ground in useless protest. "More," she breathed, arching her back on the ground, "I want more." Her body was drenched in sweat, and the work-out suit she was wearing seemed far too constrictive and hot. Piper slid the shirt over her head, gasping as the cool air flowed across her skin. The touch of the air alone was enough to send shivers down her spine; it felt as if she could feel each air current that ran across the skin of her stomach, against her breasts. Jason seemed fixated by the sight of the girl at his feet, topless and squirming with a mixture of pleasure and frustration. "Jason, more," she demanded, snapping him out of it, and with a wicked grin Jason leaned down, and pressed the golden studs directly against her hard pink nipple.

Piper clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream, as she ground her legs together and her mind caught on fire. Her entire body ached, her pussy ached, her skin ached, and she shook with the pure intensity of the feeling. She couldn't hold on to any thought but to pull herself closer to the man that was causing her such feelings. She came down from the high of her fourth orgasm and slumped to the floor, her muscles releasing the tension of weeks as she lay there, spent. The room seemed to swim for a moment, but eventually Piper's surroundings slowly slid back into focus. Jason was leaning over her, beaming. A grin to match his own spread across her face, and she reached out to run a finger over his ankle, the only thing she could reach without lifting her arm.

"You about done there?" Jason asked teasingly. Piper glanced down at herself. Her skin was shimmering, and she had soaked through her underwear and left a damp patch on her work-out pants between her legs. Although she could barely lift her head, she gave a shy smile in response. "One more?" She asked. "It's potentially addictive, so it's limited," Jason replied, "only five charges a month. I figure I'll save the last one for some time I need to shut you up with an orgasm." "Aw, so I don't get my last one until you need to shut me up? Well, okay," Piper said innocently, then took a deep breath and started shouting, "JASON'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND! JASON'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!" The last charge through the golden studs were applied on her stomach, halfway between her belly button and the waist of her pants. It seemed to tie her entire body together, every nerve alight. Piper felt each muscle she had; the orgasm wasn't just flowing through her between her legs where she wanted it, but in her legs, in her breasts, in her fingers, every centimeter of her given over to it. Each movement rubbed her soaked underwear against her already sensitive clit and lips, and she ground her legs together to send shockwaves through her hips as she came.

Her entire body was utterly spent when the orgasm finally stopped. She was vaguely aware that Jason was lifting her into her bed, and she smiled at the feeling of his arms around her; strong and snug. She barely felt him covering her with her blanket, but she did register the surprising amount of tenderness. "Jason's got a girlfriend," she mumbled in a singsong voice, with a smile, closing her eyes. "Yea yea, shut up," Jason replied, and the lights in the room flickered out. As she drifted off into an exhausted sleep, she heard him add "I guess no one told me having a girlfriend would be so much fun."


	4. Upjumped Rooks

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

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><p>I wonder if this is an abuse of power, Calypso idly mused, dragging her carbon scraper across the nose of her cruiser. She had been pondering the question for the past few hours, as the rookies complained and joked and chatted around her. The problem is that on the one hand, I can't resist a man who knows his way around a cruiser and can keep it clean…but on the other, any pilot worth anything will have that knowhow…<p>

Calypso finally decided that these mechanic exercises were for the rookies' own good. Everyone appreciated a squad mate who knew how their ship ran, man or woman. Thus, she reasoned, smashing a chunk of charred carbon from the intake valve with satisfaction, forcing the rookies to learn the ins and outs of their cruisers isn't an abuse of power at all. Well, no more than normal.

Although no one had actually accused her of overstepping her authority, Calypso couldn't exactly say she had been easy on her set of rookies since they had gotten there four months ago. She couldn't even say she'd been fair to them. From the first day, she had been as tough on her rookies as she would have been on any of her pilot or captain friends in a squad. She had held her rookies to standards impossibly high, then gently advised and guided when they failed to reach those goals.

The other captains frowned and tutted, timidly offering her advice. The rookies under other captains gave her rookies pitying looks in the hallways, and gave her terrified glances whenever they saw her. Her rookies complained to her whenever they had the chance…but…

They're good. Calypso thought with pride, far better than I was as a Rook. Maybe better rookies than any of us were. She glanced around the hangar, its huge space littered with the nine docked ships of each of her rookies in addition to the one she was sitting on. When she saw that Bianca was using the wrong tool to clean the lower thrust drive, Calypso waited for a moment, watching out of the corner of her eye. She didn't have to say a word; within a few moments Nico tossed his mecaspanner from halfway across the hangar, calling out "Heads up Bianca."

With barely a glance in his direction Bianca snatched the tool from the air, her extensive reflex training making the action second nature, barely worthy of comment. She looked at the instrument in confusion for a moment, then made the connection and started to work on the lower thrust drive again. They really have no idea how impressive their progress has been, Calypso half-marveled, They spend all their time together, they're clueless about how far ahead of the other rookies they really are.

Calypso, on the other hand, was not clueless. In addition to her own memories of her awkward first year at the Academy, she had a bigger picture that let her compare. On the first morning of every week, the captains assembled in the Capitol Lounge, a huge and comfortable retreat only open to captain-level and above. Officially the weekly meeting was to schedule the station's facilities, to make sure that no room or equipment would be in conflict for the rookies. Unofficially, by this time the entire orbital had already settled into a routine, and there were few scheduling changes needed from week to week. The captains met to confer with each other about their rookies. It was up to each captain to determine what their rookies should be learning, and at what pace, but the truth was the captains often felt just as lost as their charges. Comparing and contrasting rookie groups was a good way to make sure they were doing alright, and to reassure themselves that their groups wouldn't be too far behind their peers when they graduated to pilot-level.

Calypso's rookies weren't too far behind. They weren't even in the same league. In every stat, everything measurable, they outstripped their year mates by so far that the charts might as well have tracked them separately. The other captains had first viewed Calypso's numbers with disbelief, then suspicion, and finally had simply dismissed her group as too out-of-the-ordinary to use as a model. Calypso was both disgusted and amused by the varieties of excuses the other captains came up with to explain her rookies' successes away: "They're going to hate the whole Academy at this rate" "You'll burn them out by pushing them as hard as you do" "What good are top quality rookies that graduate as husks?" "You don't have to overcompensate Calypso, no one really believes those rumors about you falling in love with your rookies." It had been Captain Leftran, "Lefty", who had made the last comment, and Calypso gripped her scraper tighter at the memory of it. His comment had left the room in an awkward silence, but no one spoke up in her defense, and he had just stood there with a smug look until someone had changed the subject.

Since then, Calypso had remained silent about the progress her rookies were making. The other captains hadn't pushed her on it, and she now came to the meetings to observe and take note. In private, she began comparing her Rooks' stats against pilot-level stats instead. Most of them were doing quite well even for pilots.

Calypso sat back and rubbed sweat from her grimy face with an equally grimy sleeve. She glanced over at Leo, bending over the wing to clean their flaps, and mused at the irony of having such dirty thoughts about a man who was cleaning. It's about being attracted to competency, she decided, that's what's so hot. That young man is going to take care of his ship. He won't be caught off guard by a part that sticks or a piece that rattles. He'll know every bolt on the vessel he's trusting his life to. Some flyers were content with simply assuming the deck scrubs would handle that sort of thing. Some flyers paid for the assumption with their lives.

"Remind me again why we have to do our ship cleanings ourselves?" Nico grunted, jerking Calypso out of her reverie. "The other captains don't seem to think it's very important," he was rubbing down his ship's canopy with citric acid, keeping his hands clear as it ate away at everything but the metal fastenings and the clear plasticine canopy, "the other rookie squads just let the scrubs handle the cleanup."

"The other rookie squads?" Calypso leaned back on her heels. She noted out of the corner of her eye that Leo was glancing at her rear as she did so, and she struggled to keep a smile from her stern face, "let me tell you something Nico, let me tell you about the other rookie squads-" "Sure they do things differently," Annabeth broke in, deepening her voice in a mock impression of the Captain, "but that's their captains' decision, not theirs, and definitely not yours…" "IF their captains," Thalia and Jason had both joined in from their spots on the hangar, and Calypso was fast losing her struggle against cracking a smile, "want to train up pilots that can't handle real flyin', that's their business. But I'm gonna train me the BEST. DAMN. ROOKS. This Academy has ever seen!" each word chanted in unison was accompanied by dramatic wavings of various tools and instruments, and Calypso broke down and laughed. The three rookies struck exaggerated poses that were apparently supposed to be her, leaving the rest of their squaddies in hysterics around the hangar bay. "Alright, alright, you all know the speech so fuckin' well, maybe it'll actually sink in one of these days," Calypso pretend-grumbled, a grin still on her face, as she turned back to her own ship and got back to work.

By the time the speakers buzzed a muted tone that marked the hour, most of the rookies had successfully cleaned their ships, and the ones that had finished were helping the others. As Calypso had hoped, most of them had encountered and noted several small issues with the cruisers along the way. They slowly drifted out of the hangar in pairs or threes, and Calypso walked over to Leo' ship, where he was putting his tools away very slowly, waiting for her. "You have the next hour free don't you?" She asked, plucking up a tool he had put in the wrong place and setting it in the correct slot in his tool panel, "do you want to stay around here and have some fun?"

"Here?" Leo asked, surprised, casting his gaze around the hangar. Calypso affectionately watched his beaded dreadlocks click together at the motion, and turned to look at the familiar room with him. It was wide and open for multiple small ships or single large ships to take off and land. Clear plasticine walls on either end made the whole giant room appear as if it open to space, and made the hangar seem exposed and free.

"Sure!" Calypso grinned, "this is probably one of my favorite places to have sex!" Leo looked shocked, as she knew he would, and she chuckled as he looked around, alarmed. The other rookies had already left, leaving them alone in the huge echoing room. "Maybe you shouldn't say that so loud…" He suggested, nervously "If you don't want me to," Calypso gave him a quizzical look, "but I hardly think it's a huge secret. You don't think your squaddies have put two and two together by now?" "They might not have…" Leo shifted uncomfortably. Calypso was often surprised at how naive the young man could be. She had known many rookies over the years, but Leo was the first to make her feel like she was dealing with someone young. The thought made her feel vaguely uncomfortable, but she pushed the feeling aside.

"Come on Leo, you disappear at the same time I do, and afterwards I'm in a good mood and you've got that 'I just had a woman' grin on your face, your squad mates aren't idiots." "So you've had sex in this room before then?" Leo hastily changed the subject "Mmm," Calypso smiled, walking lightly over to the clear plasticine wall, "there's just something about that vast, huge expanse, and all those beautiful sparks of light. It's so serene and beautiful, something about it turns me on like nothing else. That's why its my fantasy to have sex in a cruiser sometime." She didn't mention that she also enjoyed masturbating in her cruiser. She had learned the hard way that that particular bit of information led to more teasing than it was worth.

"Well maybe someday we can do that," Leo said, joining her by the see-through wall, "I mean probably not this year, since my off-orbital trips are pretty closely monitored, but sometime in the next few years maybe." That was another thing that had been putting Calypso off lately, Leo' newfound propensity to talk about the future, always including the two of them together in it. Please, please by all that is holy, she mentally begged, searching his face as if she could read his true feelings there tell me I'm just paranoid and that this schoolboy doesn't have a crush on teacher.

"Come fuck me," Calypso said finally, not responding to his comment but taking him by the hand. She led Leo between one of the cruisers and the plasticine wall, so they were hidden from the rest of the hangar deck, and she was facing the stars. With a smooth practiced motion she slid her uniform pants down her legs, watching him over her shoulder as he admired the curves of the backside he had been staring at before. She grinned as she bent over to give him a better view, leaning against the invisible wall and spreading her legs slightly until they were hampered by the pants pooled around her ankles. There was already a glistening patch between her legs, and she winked at Leo, "we only have an hour you know, so are you going to stare all day or are you gonna stick your-"

Leo had yanked down his pants before she even finished speaking, and only waited long enough to position himself behind her. Calypso enjoyed the young man's eagerness; she wasn't overly fond of being teased, especially when they were rushed for time. He slammed into her, rough and fast. She grunted as she was pushed against the plasticine wall. This is what it should be, she thought, her lips parting as she gasped, just like this, no fluff or window dressing, just his warmth inside my wetness, over and over and over… The clear screen was cold against her hands, but she didn't mind. She let out a breath as she pushed back against him, taking his last few inches inside of her.

For a second they both stood there, completely still, Leo buried inside of her, both of them looking out on endless expanse of space. Calypso knew what he was feeling, remembered the first time she had looked into the void while bound with another person. It was dizzying, and the emptiness seemed to suddenly surround her and make every feeling much more intense. Leo pulled away and slammed back into her, and she pushed her hips back obligingly again. She was so aware of the feelings in her body, so aware of the sensations, and above all so aware of the infinity that spread out in front of her, that when Leo spoke she was almost startled.

"I can see why you like this room," he panted, his thrusting growing faster and rougher as it always did. "Hush, shut up," Calypso breathed, grinding against him and smiling as she tried to settle them into a rhythm, "listen to the silence." He had broken her experience, but she tried to ease back into it. Grabbing his wrists from her waist she stood straight, pulling him with her, so that her breasts and stomach pressed against the cold wall. His inexperienced hasty motions pressed her entire body against it, then away again, sending shocks of alternating cold and pleasure through her.

Calypso would've been able to tell that he had finished even if she hadn't heard his rough breathing in her ear. His warm length pulsed in her body, and she could feel him releasing inside her, the sudden hotness contrasting with the almost unbearable coldness against her breasts. She reached behind her and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him just a little deeper as his hips bucked. He started to pull back, but she held him fast. "Stay," she whispered, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of his breath against her neck, "we have a while if you want to go for round two in a little bit." "I'd like that," he whispered back, and Calypso smiled, eyes still closed. She leaned her head against the coldness, enjoying it as well as the warmth of his body pressing against her back and her butt, and from his soft cock still inside of her.

"I didn't understand what you meant about the stars," Leo said quietly, "but it makes sense now." "A lot of guys don't get that. I use words like 'void' and 'endless dark', and they think it's morbid and grim. It couldn't be anything farther than that, it's so, so beautiful." "It makes me feel pretty insignificant, compared to that." "A little I suppose. But that can be good sometimes. As a way to put all your problems in perspective. There's no drug or stimulant anywhere near as good as sexual release while surrounded by the stars." "There's more to it than just release though, isn't there?" Leo asked, "I mean, you have a lot of sex." "I have a lot of problems." "Maybe…maybe I could help you with that?" Leo' voice was just a whisper now, but Calypso wasn't quite sure how to take his words. Did he mean what they were doing now? Or was he referring to something deeper? Paranoid, or crush? Her worrying was interrupted by a deep pulse of pleasure, as Leo slowly hardened inside of her. "Mmm I think you could help too," she smiled, moving her hips in small circles that rubbed his length around within her body.

Calypso let herself drift off into the feelings of pleasure and depth, watching a far-off comet and taking in the spikes of light as Leo pushed in and out of her unevenly. Her fingers slipped across the smooth wall as her legs started trembling, and her breath came out in gasps. The only sounds were their heavy breathing and the soft sounds of sex. The only thing that existed was her, Leo, and the stars. She was close, so close, but Leo's pace was so uneven that she couldn't quite finish. Just a little more…oh god just a little more

He slipped all the way out of her, then moved his length higher, pressing in against her other hole. Is he trying to ruin the moment? Calypso thought, annoyed, and she shot a curious look over her shoulder and lifted her hips higher so that he slipped back inside of her. As they settled into the same pace, she tried to adjust her mindset back into the blissful peace of the stars, tried to feel once again the all-encompassing all-embracing-

He pulled out again and pressed against her ass. Okay, that wasn't an accident. He's really going to try to go for this. Calypso straightened and took a step to one side, sending him staggering slightly off-balance. She turned to face Leo, suppressing a whimper at feeling his warm cock slipping out of her when she was so close to orgasm. He looked up guiltily, as if wondering if he had made a mistake. Crossing her arms, pants still around her ankles, Calypso fixed him with a blank look. "Hey." She said, her voice flat and neutral. When Leo didn't respond, she repeated, "hey there." "Um…hi?" "That's my butt." "Um yea…I guess that's off limits?" He asked sheepishly. "Well, normally people ask me before they stick something in it." "Sorry, that's fair. I guess I just figured with where our relationship was at, you'd be up for it," Leo shifted uncomfortably, clearly wanting for them to return to what they had been doing. Calypso frowned. Damn. So much for paranoid. "I'll ask next time," he grinned.

"Leo, where exactly do you think 'our relationship' is 'at'?" she asked, Come on Rook, don't make me do this with you, don't make me have this conversation… "Well, you know," Leo shrugged, "we're pretty much a couple, but you don't want it known all over the academy, which is cool." Calypso passed a tired hand over her eyes, taking a deep breath. "No, Leo, it's not cool," she turned her back to him and pulled her pants back up, "This whole time I've been absolutely crystal clear what this was. It's a casual thing. It's always been a casual thing." "Well sure you've always said that, but you have to admit it's grown to be more than that. Admit it, you think I'm a pretty good guy."

"Of course I think you're a good guy Leo, I always have! You're a good guy and a good lay, why else would I want to have fun with you like this? But that doesn't mean I want you as a boyfriend." Leo stayed silent, and Calypso turned to belatedly see the hurt look on his face. Her anger softened a little. It was hardly his fault that he had fallen for her. Just because she had been upfront with him didn't mean he could repress his feelings. "I don't want anyone as a boyfriend, Leo," she clarified gently, "I like doing my own thing. I like being able to fuck who I want to fuck. I don't want to do the whole 'tied down' game. I thought I had made that clear when we started doing things together." "Okay, point taken," Leo yanked his own pants back up, not meeting her gaze, "from now on, just casual. Nothing more."

Although her sex drive cried out against it, Calypso knew the decision she had to make. She looked at the young man in front of her, his face red, embarrassed and ashamed, and shook her head sadly. "I don't think we can keep doing this Leo. It means something way different to you than to me, and I don't want to keep on doing this if it's going to hurt you." "It won't-" Leo began to protest, but Calypso stopped him with a finger on his lips, "Can you honestly tell me you'd be perfectly happy with nothing else out of this? Knowing nothing else will ever come from this?" She asked. Leo' shoulders, sagging in defeat, were answer enough. Calypso stepped forward and kissed him on the forehead, like she had the first time they'd been together, months ago. "It was fun, Rook," she said quietly, and then she left, making her way as swiftly as she could out of the hangar and towards her quarters, leaving Leo to look out at the dark expanse of space.

The F.A.C. room of the Academy was officially the "Forward Alert Counteraction" room, but in private Calypso always thought of it as "Fuck, A Complication" room. She had never received a summons to F.A.C. for anything less than an emergency, so when the small display just under the skin of her wrist lit up with the letters, a seed of worry settled into her gut immediately.

Minutes later Calypso entered the small room, making her way around the horseshoe-shaped metal table. Built into the surface of the table at regular intervals, screens displayed vital statistics on the Academy's crew and residents, ships, and intelligence about the planet below. Although the information represented the life flow of the orbital, the screens were muted and unobtrusive. The focus of this room wasn't the data, but rather on how their minds could use it. Calypso slipped into an empty seat next to Captain Winchest, trying to listen in on the low rumbling of conversation throughout the room to get an idea of what was happening. "Evenin' lass," Winchest said in a friendly rasp, nodding. Grey hair and a matching grey scar across the side of his head gave Winchest a singularly aged appearance, but he was one of the most spry and active captains on the orbital. "Evening Winchest. Any idea what this nonsense is about?" "Typically use the F.A.C. for red priority don' we?" The machinery in Winchest's throat booted up after the first two words with a quiet hum. It had been installed decades ago, after his throat had been ripped out on a planetary run, but it still ran perfectly. When he continued, the jagged rasp from his throat injury was smoothed out, and his voice was clear; "but I didn't hear any alarms. I'd think we would've heard about invaders or structural damage before bein' summoned here."

"No alarms that I heard either," Calypso agreed, scanning the faces of the assembled captains and majors for someone who looked as if they had a clue. In the open space of the table General Auspus stepped forward, and the room grew quiet. Auspus looked in his early twenties, with slick black hair tucked behind one ear framed his youthful face. The fact that he had been in the service for seventy years had caused much speculation, and rumors abounded of expensive surgery or biotechnology, although either would've cost far more than a typical citizen could afford. Since the man refused to comment or even acknowledge that there was anything odd about his appearance, the speculation stayed unconfirmed.

"As you've probably surmised, we have a situation," Auspus spoke with the voice of a new recruit, but with the confidence of the commander of the orbital, "if you'll note the data from the terrestrial scanner, it appears we have an incoming Drake." The room immediately burst into quiet but urgent conversations, and Calypso's eyes snapped to the screen in front of her to read the data Auspus was indicating. "That's impossible," she said aloud, "I was on the team that put the last Drake down, that was two weeks ago." General Auspus nodded, "I'm not questioning that, Captain Appet. I am aware of the mission and your contributions to it." "Drake's don't just show up that fast General," Calypso stated flatly, "no disrespect but they just don't. The planet can throw one Drake at us a year, that's all it's ever been able to do. Other things, maybe, not Drakes." The other Captains were nodding, thinking the same things, but they were letting her challenge the General. She might have had a lascivious reputation, but her record gave her words weight, and everyone knew it and listened. Rather than answering, General Auspus nodded towards a man to his left, who stood without looking up from the personal screen in his hand.

"My name is Hephaestus," he introduced himself, "I've been sent over from Orbital Techrider. As the equivalent to your 'captain-level' here, I believe you'll agree that I am qualified to interpret this data for you all?" The assembled captains nodded their assent, and Calypso blinked. To have a tech shipped over directly from another orbital wasn't unheard of, but getting someone this qualified so fast must've cost the General dearly in favors and promises. Calypso had to begrudgingly hand it to the Auspus, he was at least giving the situation the concern and attention it deserved.

"Thank you," Hephaestus continued, "for the unfamiliar, the upper atmosphere of the planet contains a thick ring of unknown composition, you've probably heard it referred to as "the fog". We've been able to determine a few of the chemicals that makeup this ring, enough to confirm that the ring is what obscures any scans and data collection we do of the planet. The complete makeup of the fog, and whether it's naturally occurring or created by tech on the surface, is one of the main questions we deal with on Orbital Techrider. Either way, the surface has always remained beyond the reach of our instruments. That's why we have you do planetary runs." Calypso nodded. It wasn't the only reason they made planetary runs, but information gathering was usually the reason Orbital Techrider requested one.

Hephaestus began flicking fingers across his screen, sending an image full of numbers and charts to each of the screens along the table, "As you can see here, anything that moves about halfway up through the fog will show up, at incredibly low resolution, on our scanners. This is how Orbital Techrider has been able to provide Orbital Academy with warnings and alerts about threats incoming from the planet. The closer the incoming mass is, the more well defined a scan we can perform, but we can usually tell what is coming to greet us several hours before it actually breaks the fog's "surface". In this case the report is so unbelievable that Techrider sent me over to assure Orbital Academy that we are confident of our assessment."

The screen split into two, displaying identical sets of numbers on each side. "On the left, the data from an hour ago. On the right, the data we recorded during the last exothermic Drake attack." There was a silence for a moment, before one of the newer captains cleared his throat. "I'm not sure I understand the significance…" he said hesitantly, "…sure any Drake is bad news, but it's not as if we've never dealt with a Drake before, right? And if it's a flamer Drake that's barely a threat at all right? Hell, we send pilot-levels out to handle flamers."

Calypso opened her mouth to explain, but Winchest leaned forward, his voice grave and gravelly even with the voice module. "The Drake isn't the problem son. It's the timing that's the threat." "Most Drake attacks pose an element of damage to our resources." General Auspus addressed the entire room, "with the exception of exothermic Drakes, every single Drake encounter has resulted in severe damage before we put it down. It's considered a victory if we can counteract the average Drake with a minimal loss of life and low-level damage to one or two orbitals. Our engineers already have their hands full at our current schedule of repair. Multiple Drake attacks in a year would wear us down faster than we can afford. So yes, this Drake is just as much a non-issue as any exothermic. What it implies is that we could have a situation, very soon."

The silence stretched out longer this time, and the General spread both hands in a gesture that seemed helpless coming from such a young looking man. "For now that is all. I'll be in communication with the commanders of each orbital. Please bring any suggestions or comments on the situation to me, they will be welcome. For now, all that remains is to assemble a team to face this particular Drake. Captain Appet, I believe it's your turn to take point, I'll leave the team selection to you."

A thought had been forming in Calypso's head as the General spoke. Things are changing. This lazy schedule we've been holding to, six years to take a group from rookie to captain…that's not going to work for much longer. Her treatment of her rookies no longer seemed too intense, indeed, it seemed quite tame. The orbitals are going to need a new influx of skilled new blood, pilots and engineers and technicians. The Rooks are going to have to advance faster. They can't do that sitting on their asses in the orbital.

"My current team will handle the Drake," Calypso said casually. General Auspus stopped and turned in the doorway immediately, but it took a few moments for the captains to make the connection between her words and the team she was talking about. "You're on your teaching year," sitting across from her, Captain Doubl spoke as if Calypso had forgotten, "your 'team' is just rookies right now." "My team can handle a flamer Drake," Calypso repeated confidently, although her eyes flicked to the General watching her with narrowed eyes from the doorway, "their rank doesn't matter, what matters is whether or not they can handle it." "We don't send rookies to fight Drakes, Appet," Captain Leftran's voice grated on Calypso's nerves, "it's possible that your emotional attachments have clouded your objectivity. If we really want to push our newer recruits, we should sent out pilot-levels. They both need the training and are able to handle themselves."

Calypso wasn't listening, flicking her fingers across her screen to pull up data in response to the arguments she knew were coming. She synced the various training records for the Academy to the screens along entire desk as she went, and soon the the captains were frowning down at the data in front of them. Training flight records, accuracy ratings, tactical scenario training scores; all of them showed her rookies ranked far above the rest, all of them somewhere in the middle range of the Academy's pilot-levels. Calypso purposely didn't pull up the stats for areas where they were still at rookie-level; physical training, engineering tech, navigation and radar interpretation, but even so the statistics were impressive. She noticed with surprise that Clarisse's accuracy scores were actually some of the highest at even pilot-level, only a few spots away from matching the scores of the lower-level Lieutenants.

In the silence that followed as the captains read the screens, Calypso spoke. "I've been accused of being too hard on my rookies, and of being too attached to them. Now that we know about this Drake situation, I hope you'll be glad I've been so rough on them; they don't have as much catching up to do as all the rest. It sounds like we're going to need a lot of top-tier flyers soon. My Rooks have been held to a higher pass-standard than any rookie year in the past decade. They train for sixteen hours a day. They don't even know it's possible to set the exercises to 'easy' in most rooms. I've been pushing them to be the best they possibly can be, and they've lived up to every challenge I've set for them. They're ready to step up to the next challenge."

The other captains stayed silent throughout her speech, though more and more glanced in the General's direction. He was staring at Calypso, his steely eyes uncomfortably deep and aged compared to his face. Calypso steadfastly kept his gaze. The others didn't matter; he was the only one who could technically forbid her from taking the rooks against this Drake. Without a word, General Auspus turned and stepped out the door, and Calypso breathed a sigh of relief. Those gathered began collecting their things and standing, the meeting's business concluded. Calypso was too elated to give much attention to the worried looks or the low muttering that followed her out the door. She was so excited that even the voice of Captain Leftran didn't bother her as it floated from the room behind her, "We should decide on a backup team to send out once Appet's upjumped rookies make a mess of this Drake."

Calypso almost skipped into the barracks, but she focused hard on slowing her step into a measured, professional pace, adjusting her face into a neutral mask before entering. The Rooks were all there, enjoying the brief few hours they had before lights out, some reading and playing games with each other, some just talking. The room quieted the instant she entered, the rookies not snapping to their feet, but still giving her respectful attention. Calypso allowed her gaze to rove across the room, feeling proud and fond of each one at the same time. She felt a momentary stab of disappointment meeting Leo' eyes, knowing she wouldn't be able to have any celebratory sex, but she didn't let it show on her face. She took the whole room in as a whole, and took a deep breath. This is going to be the most amazing, frightening, valuable experience they're likely to get…and they'll have no idea until it's over

"Alright Rooks," she said good-naturedly, "seems like the Academy has decided you all don't hate me quite enough yet. Suit up, we've got a new assignment…"


	5. Drake

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

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><p>"I spy with my little eye, something devoid of all light, sound, and life." Nico's joke wasn't all that funny, but Thalia and her squaddies all chuckled nervously. As if the vast expanse of space in front of them could be ignored, when in only a few minutes they would all be careening out into it on the most dangerous flight of their lives. Thalia was shaking her leg up and down, venting nervous energy while her fingers drummed across the armrest of her cruiser. The hangar was filled with the noises of hissing steam and the voices of the scrubs below checking gauges and ticking off final flight checklists, but even so Thalia felt very alone. She flicked her comms transmit button, keeping the channel open, "We should have flight signs," she commented lightly, "in the stories pilots always have code names like 'Big Rig' or 'Hotshot' or 'Red Five' or something."<p>

"That's a good point," Clarisse's voice crackled across the radio, her light and chipper tone a dead giveaway that she was apprehensive, "Captain, looks like we'll have to scrap this mission." "Mission cancelled due to lack of necessary flight signs," Nico chuckled. "You'd better come up with flight signs damn fast then," hearing the Captain's calm voice helped settle Thalia's stomach a bit, knowing she would be flying with them. "I'm all in favor of giving Annabeth the call sign 'Squad Pet' and making her our mascot," Leo suggested, and the squaddies chuckled again. "'Squad pet' or 'Percy's pet?" Jason asked slyly. Thalia grinned. Annabeth and Percy had been spending an awfully lot of time alone together. The whole squad knew about them, but only Jason would call them out on it. Thalia also knew she would be the only one to find his quip amusing. She and Jason had the same sense of humor; one that tended to offend the other squad mates. Bunch of pussies, she thought.

"Jason, a little much," Piper commented, her voice even softer than normal. "Alright, my bad Annie," Jason apologized good naturedly. Thalia still wasn't used to that, the 'swaggery' young man taking the cue of the tiniest and quietest member of the squad. He had been much nicer to be around since the two of them had started dating, but Thalia sometimes missed the swagger and bravado. That, and it was nice to have a squad mate who laughed at her snarkier jokes. While the apology had apparently satisfied Annabeth, Percy was apparently not as willing to forgive his crack; "Hey Jason I'm just curious, how does it feel to be whipped by Piper?" "What? Piper you've got a whip and you've been holding out on me?" Jason joked. "I'm saving it for a special occasion," Piper's timid voice transmitted, and after a moment of shocked silence the channel was full of genuine laughter.

"Orbital A control to hangar bay, attention hangar bay. Bay doors are opening. All non-flight personnel please clear hangar floor." The announcement over the official channel quelled the laughter. Thalia's stomach clenched as the scrubs moved out, leaving only the double line of cruisers stretching across the room. A slow moving ripple was the only indication that the huge clear wall of the hangar deck was moving, exposing the hangar to space. This is really happening. I'm really doing this. We're about to take on a Drake. She took deep, steadying breaths as the canopy of her cruiser clicked shut, sealing her up the ship. The steady hiss of air recyclers helped her regulate her breathing as she stared ahead at the back of Nico's cruiser.

"How is everyone holding up?" she asked, just to hear her squad mates' voices. Her foot kept tapping against the thrust pedal, too lightly to activate it, but enough to comfort herself with its physical presence. "Scared out of my skin, T, scared out of my fucking skin," Bianca' voice answered back, and Thalia smiled in spite of herself. "'T'? Are we seriously doing the flight sign thing?" Annabeth laughed. "Roger that Squadpet," Bianca imitated the clipped and official tones of Orbital A control, and Thalia's grin grew even wider. "I can't tell you how much I want that to not catch on-" Annabeth began, before the real Orbital A cut her off. "Orbital A control to squadron, attention squadron. Scanners show that the Drake has broken the fog surface. You are cleared for takeoff. Repeat, cleared for takeoff."

The double line of cruisers lifted from the hangar floor in unison, and Thalia let out her held-in breath in a whoop, her voice joining several of her squad mates'. They shot out from the hangar in twos, the takeoff smooth and perfect after their countless training runs over the past several months. As Thalia's ship slipped into empty space, as smooth a takeoff as anyone could ask for, her nervousness began to melt away. She settled into formation with barely a thought, calmer than she expected to be.

"Okay Rooks," in the stillness of space, without interference from the orbital's electronics, the Captain's voice came through crystal clear in Thalia's cockpit. "This is going to be just like any training run. Navigate to the target, fire at the sweet spots, and take it out. Only differences are that this target can't shoot back, and we won't be navigating within a kilometer to it." "Plus, you know, the possibility of death," Nico added. Thalia's stomach lurched. "Not gonna happen," the Captain replied reassuringly, "Trust me, I personally know pilots who have taken down Drakes that weren't as good as you Rooks are. The academy wouldn't have suggested you for this if they thought you couldn't do it. Plus you get a pretty orange pin after your first flamer Drake kill, it'll really bring out your eyes Nico."

Thalia grinned, reassured, as she punched a short range destination into her computer. The computer hummed while it compared her destination to those of her squaddies, and lit up 'ready' after it corrected to prevent collisions. "Alrighty Rooks." The Captain's voice was tight, excited, "I'm taking us in." Her ship strained, and Thalia was slammed back into her seat and held there by the acceleration, as the cruisers made a jump that would've taken them five minutes at full speed to traverse. Suddenly the ships decelerated, and then they were there, within visual range of the Drake. "Hoooooooly fuck," someone breathed on the radio, but Thalia was too awestruck and terrified to identify who.

The Drake hovered just a little ways away from the fog, close enough that its tail still hung in the rippling waves of it. It was clearly waiting for them, and it noticed them the second they stopped accelerating, maybe even sooner. A pointed, reptilian head swung around to face them even as their engines quieted. The smooth silky movements of its long neck made it seem more like it was floating in liquid than in space, an illusion made even more confusing by the slow motions it made with huge stubby arms, as if treading water. Even at the distance Thalia was holding, the things red eyes glowed so brightly in its head that it seemed like the creature was staring directly at her.

The Drake's pale orange scales caught the light as it unfurled two huge wings, spreading them wide and exposing their dark orange leathery skin. "Okay, enough gawking," the Captain snapped, "you've seen it, now shoot it!" Her voice broke Thalia out of her reverie, and a hundred jets of light shot across the dark star-filled sky as the entire squad opened fire on the creature. The Drake slammed its wings down in a sweeping motion and shot forward, propelled despite the lack of atmosphere by some mystery that the scientists still hadn't been able to explain to them. Against all logic or physics the Drake banked suddenly, twisting its body and soaring at a sharp angle away from the path it had just been on. "Alright ladies and gents," Captain Appet's voice was grim over the speakers, "you've seen the whole playbook. We fire, it dodges. Keep it up until you can land a shot or two, and stay a full kilometer away from it." Thalia found it hard to believe that a few shots would be enough to bring the beast down; from wingtip to wingtip it was roughly the length of three of their ships laid end to end. As she squeezed the trigger and watched her shots fall wide, the Drake swinging around them effortlessly, she hoped the Captain was correct. It's going to be hard enough to land just those few.

The cruisers had been jetting towards the beast at full speed, and Thalia watched the console carefully as she unleashed her rounds, making sure the distance stayed outside of the dangerously close range. The creature watched the ships as they moved around it, giving it a wide berth. Its beady eyes seemed to size each ship up as they passed, and Thalia shivered. There was too much deep and danger in those eyes; even from this distance she didn't want the thing looking at her. Thalia broke away at the same time as the rest, swinging around and letting her squad mates in the back take potshots at the Drake.

Faster than she would've thought possible, the creature whipped its body around and burst into motion again, following Leo' cruiser as he swung around. "Leo he's on you!" Thalia kicked her thrust into full gear and broke formation, swinging to follow the Drake. Leo' cruiser blew into full speed, but it slowly accelerated to match, wings moving awkwardly out of sync with its motion. "If someone could attract his attention…" Leo' voice was tense, but he kept control of his ship, swinging it from side to side to buy himself precious seconds, "…I would be very grateful." "We're on him, we're on him, he's just not breaking off," Thalia muttered through her teeth, as Bianca, Clarisse, and Annabeth fell into formation with her, taking brief shots when they were sure they wouldn't hit Leo.

"Leo, if you can I need you to change course," the Captain said, and Thalia marveled at how even and calm she sounded. "If you lead the Drake too close to one of the orbitals we risk him breaking off and attacking it instead." "Better me than the orbital eh?" Leo' voice was glum, but still tight. "That's the job, Leo," Thalia said quietly, loosing a few more shots and mentally swearing when they went wide, "we all signed up for this." "Listen T, if I don't make it-" Leo began, but before he could finish the sentence one of Clarisse's shots landed on the Drake's shoulder. The beast tumbled through space, no longer following Leo as he pulled his ship off in a different direction. It's mouth was open wide as it spun in the air, releasing what would have been an ear-shattering shriek if it had occurred somewhere with the atmosphere to propagate the sound.

"You got it!" Thalia shrieked, "'Course I got it!" Clarisse laughed, "the Drake thinks he can mess with Appet's A squadron and keep both its wings?" Sure enough, as the Drake somehow stabilized, Thalia could see that the shot had cleanly separated the creature's wing from its shoulder. It floated a ways off, knocked away by the tumbling. The Drake itself was still matching their speed in front of them a few kilometers off, but flapped awkwardly and turned to watch them. "Slow down, Rooks, you're gaining on it," the Captain warned, and Thalia glanced at her instruments, startled to note that she was indeed coming dangerously close to the kilometer distance. She slowed her cruiser, widening the distance between her and the monster that was floating at roughly the same speed. Annabeth, Clarisse, and Bianca were following suit, so the four girls kept in the same formation.

The Drake stopped.

Thalia's mind seemed to freeze as adrenaline kicked her in the stomach, and time seemed to slow down. In a handful of seconds, too many thoughts ran through her head to process. The first thought was that it simply wasn't possible. Objects in motion stay in motion, and out here in the void of space, with no friction and barely any gravity, it was incredibly difficult to slow down, let alone come to a complete stop. The second thought was to note just how big the creature was. She was so utterly dwarfed by this creature…they all were. It loomed, filling her entire view even as she slammed her thrusters in reverse.

We're within a kilometer, Thalia realized belatedly, redundantly. There was screaming over the radio, but she couldn't focus on anything but the Drake's eyes. They weren't the eyes of a dumb creature, or even a creature of instinct or learned cleverness. The eyes that looked down at her, with an amused wrinkle in their corners, were evil. They were malevolently intelligent. They were laughing at the squad. They were laughing at her.

The creature lazily reached out an arm as the four rookies shot past, and closed its claws around the back of Thalia's cruiser. With a horrible, wrenching feeling, the entire craft slammed to a stop. The restraints pulled tight, buffeting Thalia so hard and suddenly that her breath was knocked out of her. Her vision darkened, but she dimly saw the other cruisers swerving to miss the monstrous beast, with just a moment to make the adjustment.

It took a few horrible, painful attempts before Thalia was able to gasp in an agonizing breath. Time no longer seemed slowed, but her head spun with the confusion of the moment. Her comm was screaming, her squad mates yelling at her to boost out of the thing's grip, shouting at each other to take a shot, asking what to do. Her stomach lurched as the cruiser was lifted up, and she could hear the metal behind her shrieking as the Drake's claws dug in with a tighter grip.

Her mind slowly clearing, Thalia began to panic, slamming her fist into the eject button even though she knew that the mechanisms would've been crushed already. The Drake had lifted her to face-level, watching her struggling through the clear but splintered plasticine canopy. Ignoring the creature watching her, Thalia struggled to think of options. Without much hope she squeezed the trigger, but a faint clicking was all that resulted. Nothing. There's nothing I can do. I'm going to die, she realized. She looked into the Drake's eyes, trying as hard as she could to stop her shaking. With a deliberate and slow motion, the creature opened its jaws and spewed a jet of fire directly at the cockpit. Thalia screamed, covering her face with a gloved hand and bracing herself for the searing heat, but the flame extinguished the instant it left the Drake's mouth, smothered by the lack of oxygen in the reaches of space.

"Leo, Nico, Clarisse, swing to your left and take your shots," the Captain's voice, just as measured and even as ever, silenced the shouting over comms. For a moment Thalia's cruiser was silent except for her panicked breathing, then Captain Appet's calm commands continued, "Jason, Piper, Annabeth, fire from its planet-side. Bianca, you and I attack from the direction of the orbital. Thalia," Thalia took deep breaths as she focused on the Captain's voice, "Thalia, stay calm. Its flame can't hurt you, and it's too stupid to crush you completely. It won't be able to dodge attacks from three different directions." The creature suddenly swung Thalia's ship around, so hard that the pull smacked her head against the chair. "Orbital Academy," the Captain's voice seemed suddenly strained, "if you have measures to take this thing out before it becomes a threat, now would be the time to enact them."

"Orbital A to squadron," the reply seemed amused more than worried, and Thalia's helplessness warred with a feeling of rage at whoever was on the other side of those coms, "just to confirm, your team cannot handle this Drake on your own?" "Captain Leftran, this isn't the time," the Captain sounded tense, and Thalia clutched the armrests of her cruiser to keep her hands from shaking, "We can handle it, but the Drake is too close to the orbital. I'd rather be over-cautious than leave ourselves open to orbital damage." Thalia glanced to her right as the Drake adjusted its grip with claws almost as big as she was. It was true, the orbital was far closer than she had assumed. It wouldn't take long if the Drake decided to fly for it, and she hated to think what it could do with its claws to the mechanisms of the orbital.

"We're in position," Jason's voice was just as calm as the captain's, and through the fear Thalia felt a surge of pride in her friend. He had lost the arrogance, but the confidence and determination was still there. It helped to hear the assuredness in his voice. "Ready on this side," Clarisse sounded more worried, but Thalia didn't blame her. Bianca didn't say anything, but she must've given the Captain a sign of some sort. "Attack," Captain Appet ordered. From the corner of her eye Thalia saw the jets brighten from the others' engines, but her attention was focused on the Drake. As if it had heard the order, the monster was staring at the Captain's ship. Its head was reptilian, but the twisting at the corners of its long mouth reminded Thalia of nothing more than a cruel smile. It drew back its scaled arm, swinging her cruiser in a lazy arc, then hurled the entire ship at Orbital Academy.

The tumbling motion was sickening, but Thalia fought against the nausea and panic. The ship was moving slowly, but more importantly it wasn't being held by a monster, and she focused on the controls and instruments rather than spinning view through the cracked canopy. The distance between her and the orbital was roughly fifty kilometers. She wasn't moving as fast as if she had been using her engine, but it wouldn't make a difference if her cruiser ran into the orbital. Thalia yanked the thrust forward, but the Drake had been holding her ship by the engines; she wasn't surprised when her trajectory didn't change. "Thalia, can you hear us?" Annabeth's voice was faint on the comms, but audible. "Engines damaged, non-responsive," Thalia's voice was grim. A slight hiss told her she was venting air, and she pulled her respirator over her face. "I can't even use an air-push to change direction, I'm leaking." "Orbital A to squadron, attention Rookie Thalia. You're on a collision vector with the orbital at 40 kilometers and closing, please confirm you are without propulsion," the voice on the communication was sounding worried now.

Thalia took a deep breath, calculating in her mind. A collision between her cruiser and the orbital would cause a pressure break, even if she assumed her fuel cells didn't explode. In the very best of cases, a crash would mean the loss of a dozens of lives, and the damage could cause hundreds more to be without food or water or vital supplies depending on where she hit. It wasn't really a question. "Confirmed, orbital," she took another deep breath, "you're going to have to shoot me down-" "No!" someone screamed over the radio, and cries and protests from her squad mates filled the comm. As she spoke again the chatter quieted, "Squaddies, my ship'll do too much damage to the orbital," she felt surprisingly calm, as her cruiser continued its slow spin. She glanced at the instruments; thirty kilometers.

"Orbital A to squadron, attention Rookie Bianca," the orbital's communication was beginning to crackle as she drew closer to the instruments, but Thalia could still hear it through the interference, "Rookie Bianca, your current vector will take you in range of our attack, please correct your vector." The spin of Thalia's ship brought the Drake in her view just as several bolts of light clipped it, sending it tumbling. "Orbital A please hold your fire," Bianca' voice was focused and tight, "I'm correcting Thalia's course." "Orbital A to Rookie Bianca, please re-transmit last message. How…how exactly are you going to correct the course?" "With a shove." Bianca was speaking through gritted teeth, and Thalia glanced at her radar, finding and following the pinprick of light that indicated Bianca' ship. It was moving towards her fast. "Bianca what are you talking about, what are you doing?" she asked weakly, glancing up to see the orbital looming above her. "Rookie Bianca," Captain Appet's voice was official, her tone harsh, "this is a direct order, do not make the suicidal move you're about to make." Even though no one could see her, Thalia shook her head, "Bianca don't do this, it's stupid." "I'm not breaking off T," Bianca' voice was clear, less static, "Captain. I'm sorry." The spinning was making Thalia feel sick to her stomach, but she looked at her instruments. Less than twenty kilometers out. "Give her a shove and you'll both be done for Bianca," the Captain's voice was gentle but firm, "I am ordering you to break off. I'm sorry Thalia but there's nothing-" "It's alright, " tears sprang suddenly into Thalia's eyes, but she felt serene, "it's okay Bianca, really. Break off. I'd rather I die than the hundreds in the orbital. And I'd rather die alone than take a squaddie with me." "Just…I wanted to say something…" Bianca' voice broke, "it's a cliche, but I don't think I can face this if I had to regret keeping it a secret." Black fog was swimming at the corners of Thalia's vision, and a quick check of the instruments showed both that she was almost out of oxygen and that Bianca hadn't broken off her course. "Orbital A to Rookie Bianca, break off! BREAK YOUR COURSE!" "I'm ten kilometers away. Bianca break off your vector or they won't be able to shoot in time." Her voice sounded thin in her ears, and Bianca' response was even quieter through the dwindling oxygen that was fast being vented into space. "I love you Thalia. I've loved you since the first week we set foot on the orbital."

In a way it was helpful that Thalia's mind was suddenly blank. It meant she didn't have the chance to respond in the last few seconds before the ships collided. There were shrieks of metal, sucking noises, something snapping so close that Thalia wasn't sure if it was her ship or her body, and then there was sudden, blanketing silence.

Thalia woke suddenly. Her head was pounding, and her entire right side felt stiff and throbbed. She let her gaze shift across the pale blue metal of the walls above and around her. Sickbay, she connected sluggishly. She took a careful inventory of her body while lying as still as she could. As far as she could tell, everything was intact, although her entire stomach and chest ached, and a glance downward confirmed that her whole right arm and hand were wrapped in rigid black plasticine. "They're just broken," Bianca spoke quietly from her bedside. Thalia smiled, looking her squad mate up and down. The girl was standing, and besides the crutch she was leaning on she seemed in perfectly good health, "well, I think the word they used was 'pulverized', but they were able to put in some titrania replacement bones. After your body gets used to it, you'll be back to normal." "Not a bad outcome for a wrestling match with a Drake," Thalia grinned weakly. "Could've been worse," Bianca agreed, "by which I mean you could've been just a memory and some carbon scarring on my ship." Thalia scanned the girl's face, trying to discern what Bianca was feeling, and only then noticed why her hair was pulled forward across her face. "Your eye!" she exclaimed, sitting up and immediately wincing at the action. Bianca raised a hand to the small black eyepatch over her right eye, the same color as her hair. "Could've been worse," she repeated, and smiled again, "for what we accomplished-" "Bianca I can't tell you…" Thalia's heart was racing, "I don't know what to say or what to do to tell you how grateful I am. How sorry…" "Of course, T," Bianca sat on Thalia's bed, taking her good hand in her own, "you're my squaddie, I'm not going to let them blow you out of space like a rogue comet." "I'm not angry at them. It was the right call for them to make." Thalia leaned back again, the pounding in her head extending to her ribs, "but you…the call you made was so far beyond that. I hate to say it but you're probably going to be taking a lot of heat for that call. I-I owe you so much. I can't ever repay you for what you did."

Thalia closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of soft cloth and cool pillow against the pounding in her head. "There's nothing you have to do Thalia," Bianca squeezed her hand, "I would've done the same for any of them, really." The full memory of her last few moments before the impact came back to Thalia, and her eyes snapped open. Bianca was looking down at her, affectionate in a friendly, open way. Thalia had never thought of Bianca in a romantic sense, but now that the thought occurred to her she was surprised to find that it wasn't repellent at all. Bianca was a little bit younger than her, friendly, quiet. She was even attractive in a dark and wiry sort of way. Would it really be so horrible, starting something with her? The thought idly floated through her mind. She hadn't considered the thought of being with a woman before. Reluctantly, she dismissed the thought, at least for the moment. Any relationship that started out of obligation wouldn't be healthy, no matter how appreciative she was. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad to show her a little bit of that appreciation… She slid her thumb across the back of Bianca' hand, enjoying the smoothness of her skin.

Her personal screen pinged from where it sat beside her bed, and Bianca passed it over to her. The message that scrolled across it made her smile: "There are easier ways to get attention you know. -Jason" With a grin Thalia tapped a response with her left hand, resting the screen on her legs. "Nah, this wasn't that much work. I'm lazy. -Thalia" The response pinged back almost immediately: "Well we're all sitting here waiting to get chewed out for this, but I'm glad to hear you're awake enough to be a smartass -Jason" After a moment's thought, Thalia tapped out another message. "Will they need Bianca around when they scold you? Or can she stay with me for a while so I can thank her? -Thalia" "'Thank her' eh? Woo woo baby. Yea they're leaving you two alone 'till you're healed up a little. I guess they don't realize you're healed up enough to bump crotches -Jason"

"Dumbass," Thalia muttered under her breath, but she smiled all the same. That's the Jason I know. Grinning, she looked up from her screen at Bianca. The dark-haired girl was looking down at the screen, reading the messages upside-down. . "You don't have to do that, I didn't do it to be thanked," Bianca said quietly, blushing, "I don't want you to get into anything because you feel indebted to me, that wouldn't be fair." "We can talk about what we'll get into later," Thalia smiled, reaching forward and hooking her good hand around Bianca' neck, "for right now I just want to be your friend. A friend who wants to show you how grateful she is." She pulled forward, until she had the other girl leaning over her. Thalia shivered as Bianca' hair brushed against the sides of her face. "You don't have to-" Bianca breathed again, before Thalia silenced her with a kiss.

Thalia was surprised at how soft Bianca' lips were. Even though she had her pulled forward, nearly on top of her, the younger girl was hesitant, reserved. She let go, breaking the kiss and looking up at Bianca questioningly. "Unless you don't want this-" Thalia began quietly, but Bianca had already leaned down again before she could finish her sentence, and this time there was no hesitation in her kisses at all.

While she hadn't considered the possibility seriously, Thalia had always assumed that if she ever did things with a girl, the experience would be somehow gentler, softer, perhaps more tender. She was surprised when Bianca' hands snaked up, suddenly running through her long blonde hair and pulling her deeper into the kiss. Not soft…but different. Very different, Thalia thought somewhat distractedly. Bianca was kissing her as if she had wanted this for her entire life, and Thalia had to admit to herself that the effect was much more enjoyable than gentleness would be.

She was suddenly aware of her very faint scent, subtle, like flowers but with a dangerous bite. "I didn't realize you wore a fragrance," she murmured, under the kisses that were raining down on her lips and cheeks and forehead. Bianca stopped and looked down at her, smiling, and Thalia smiled in return. Her thoughts were so jumbled and unfocused, but she was finding the entire thing so much nicer than she would've imagined. Bianca' good eye twinkled, a more bright and vivid green than Thalia had ever seen before, but the eyepatch sent a wave of guilt that dampened Thalia's enjoyment a bit. "No one realizes," Bianca whispered back, her face inches away from Thalia's, "which means right now? It's just for you." For some reason she couldn't explain, Bianca' whispered words sent a tingle down the back of Thalia's neck and spine. Her reservations gone, Thalia reached up again, pulling her into another kiss.

Bianca shifted to lift one leg and straddle Thalia on the sickbay bed, and Thalia was very suddenly aware of the heat of the body pressing against her; more aware than she would have been if it had been a man on top of her. Fumbling with her left hand, she had to try a few times to get ahold of the sealing tab on Bianca' flight suit, but she finally got a grip on it and pulled it down as far as it would go, down to the waist. The flight suit parted in the middle as Bianca hovered over Annabeth, letting her see down the other girl's naked neck, her full breasts, and her stomach with the tiniest amount of belly. To her surprise, Thalia found the sight quite agreeable. She was used to men with muscles and straight lines, but Bianca' body was all smooth skin and curves. Bianca reached under the bottom edge of Thalia's shirt, her fingers dancing as gently as possible across the bruised skin of her stomach. She braced for pain, but the feathery touches were light enough that all she felt were the fluttering sensations that the girl was causing to grow within her.

Bianca' fingers roamed a little higher each time they danced across her stomach, and Thalia leaned back and closed her eyes. The caresses were so delicate and so careful that Thalia couldn't tell when she had stopped just touching her stomach and when she had also started touching her breasts. The air in sickbay was just a fraction colder on her skin, and it was the only indication she had that Bianca had lifted her loose hospital gown to look at her. Thalia kept her eyes closed so that she wouldn't know where the next touch would fall, so when Bianca grabbed a hard pink nipple between her lips Thalia gasped at the unexpected pleasure.

"You're…really good at that," she looked down at Bianca, who had begun flicking her small pink tongue around Thalia's nipple with a wicked smile. "You're not my first," Bianca grinned, "Well you're mine, so…be gentle…?" Thalia wasn't used to being uncertain when it came to sex, but Bianca seemed not to mind being in control. She gently bit the nipple in her mouth, and Thalia gave a small squeak of surprise. "How does it compare?" Bianca' fingers were moving again, roving across her stomach, her other breast, gently at her neck, dipping beneath the hospital blanket to graze across thighs that were bare now that the gown had been pulled up. Thalia was finding it quite hard to focus on the question, but she managed a response, "Different. Unexpectedly different." "Oh?" Thalia's body tensed in anticipation as, without breaking eye contact or stopping her slow assault on Thalia's breast, Bianca slipped the blanket down until it was at her knees, "different in a good way or a bad way?" "Different in a different way," Thalia smiled in response, "less impatient. And a guy wouldn't have done that without at least taking a look at the goods." "Oh I plan on taking a very good look," Bianca had moved forward, licking and nibbling along Thalia's neck, and she whispered her words directly into Thalia's ear. The motion pushed the flight suit directly against Thalia's clit, and the direct stimulation combined with the teasing and the whispering were all too much. She tried to hold off, but the gentle teasing and the delicious sensations were overwhelming.

Thalia grabbed the girl on top of her as she came, her body tensing at the suddenness of the orgasm. It wasn't the hardest she had ever cum, but the quivering throughout her body was enough to make her feel sore even as she arched and gave a quiet moan. She was still pressed against Bianca, and she ground her pussy into the rigid material of the other girl's flight suit. As the heat between her legs slowly subsided, Bianca chuckled softly in her ear as she held her close, "well that was fast. Maybe I know your body better than I thought." The whisper and the sensation of her tongue against Thalia's ear sent her over the edge again, crying out as her hips lifted from the bed. She stopped trying to keep her focus and instead embraced everything; the blissful thrills of pleasure coursing through her, the warmth of the girl on top of her, the scent of sweat and sex and flowers, even the aches in her stomach and chest. Finally she relaxed, spent, nestling against the covers.

"I swear it never happens that fast baby," Thalia joked tiredly in an exaggeratedly macho voice, and Bianca leaned back and laughed. "Good," she replied. She moved as if to slide off of her, but Thalia grabbed her arm. Where do you think you're going… "I'm supposed to be thanking you, remember?" she said slyly, and she could tell that in spite of herself Bianca wanted more. "You don't have to- Oh!" Bianca gasped, as in a smooth motion Thalia slid a hand into her flight suit. "What if I want to?" Thalia asked, enjoying the look of unhidden delight on Bianca' face. She slid her hand further across the girl's small patch of hair. She could feel that it had been trimmed into some kind of design, and she made a mental not to ask or tease Bianca about it at some point. In the meantime her hand went further, purposely rubbing it against Bianca' clit as she gently and slowly explored between the other girl's legs.

"Oh my god," Bianca moaned, her hips slowly moving back and forth as if against her will to grind her clit against Thalia's wrist. Although Thalia had enjoyed herself before, this was an experience like no other. Her fingers rubbed slow circles around Bianca' slit, and even though she hadn't slipped them inside yet all three fingers were wet. Bianca' face was heavy-lidded with an expression of such unbridled lust and enjoyment that Thalia couldn't bear to wait any longer. She slid first one, then a second finger inside the girl on top of her, and the gasp she got in return made her grin. Briefly considering what she would like, Thalia curled the tips of her fingers, pressing them against the walls of Bianca' pussy, and then slid them all the way out again. Bianca whimpered, and Thalia pushed them back in, just as slow. The cues in the other girl were easy to read as she moved her hips in time with the gentle thrusting of Thalia's fingers. Her pace staying even and steady, Thalia leaned up, ignoring the pain, and kissed the hollow of Bianca' neck.

Thalia felt the girl cum, felt Bianca' body trembling and felt her pussy clamp down on her fingers. For as loud as she'd been before, Bianca orgasmed quietly, with a moan that was barely audible but left Thalia with goosebumps all over. She felt thrilled at how wet her hand had gotten, at how well she seemed to know Bianca' body without ever having thought about it. She slid her fingers out of the girl, surprised when Bianca began kissing her again. The men she had been with were more the type to finish and roll over. it was surprisingly nice to have the small sensations, the tingles as her lips touched against skin that still tingled from the orgasm a few minutes before. The kisses continued, soft and light, as Bianca gently and delicately slid her hospital gown down over her bruised body, and slid off of her to stand to the side of her bed. When she finally stopped, her smile made her entire face radiant. I think I would do a lot to be the reason for that smile as often as possible, Thalia realized with surprise.

"So…" she said awkwardly, unsure of what that experience had meant to Bianca, or to herself for that matter. What do I say now? What do I do? Is this how guys feels with me when I'm done with them? "So…after months of fantasizing, I finally got to do you," Bianca grinned. "Was it how you imagined?" Thalia asked, unsure of how else to respond. In answer Bianca leaned forward, close enough that Thalia could smell flowers and a dangerous bite.

"Everything I could hope for and more," she whispered, and the sound of it sent a shock from Thalia's scalp all the way down to between her legs. Then in a smooth motion Bianca slid her own sealing tab up, fastening the flight suit back into place and grabbing her crutch from the bedside. With another radiant smile, the girl turned and walked out of the sickbay, leaving Thalia panting, blushing, and entirely confused.


	6. Interluding

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

**A/N: My goal is to upload at least 1 chapter every day since I pretty much have all the chapters completed. If I miss a day, I'll probably upload 2 the next. There's a total of 30 chapters, and if your like me, waiting a week or even a month for a new chapter is painful. D: So enjoy. **

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><p>After four of the most intensive and exhausting months of his life, Jason had come to love his day off more than anything else in the world. He loved his morning shot of caffeine, he loved his weekly allotment of alcohol. Though he hadn't yet used the word, he loved his girlfriend Piper, and he would readily admit that he loved screwing her as long and as frequently as possible. Even with all of that, on some days, while drenched in sweat and still pushing himself on the training courses, or while biting his lip in frustration trying to outmatch the drone simulator, he would keep himself going by fantasizing about his next Sunday. This Sunday Jason had decided he would stay in bed until lunchtime…first sleeping in far later than he should, and then playing or reading on his personal screen until the buzzer intoned the lunch tone. The thought kept him going throughout the week, and he spent his entire free hour on Saturday making up his remedial reflex training just so that he wouldn't have anything to do on his beloved free day.<p>

Thus, when a pair of cold feet against his legs shocked him awake in the early hours of the morning, he was incredibly upset.

"Freezing jerk!" he mumbled reflexively, gazing through blurry eyes at the red lights that indicated it was 0407 hours. He turned to find Piper next to him, scooting between the sheets and snuggling down into the blankets, "your feet are frozen!" His plans had _not_ included being woken up so early, and now that he was awake he knew it would take him forever to fall back asleep. He gazed down at his girlfriend crankily.

"It's cold," Piper agreed, scooting next to him and nestling beneath his arm. She was already half asleep, and Jason frowned at the unfairness of it.

"Hey, nu huh, you woke me up, you don't get to just cuddle as if you're not sucking the heat out of my bed," he growled.

"But I brought another blanket," Piper yawned, "and you're so warm and it's so cold."

"You'd feel different if you had as hard a time getting to sleep as I do," Jason grumbled, and Piper opened an eye and observed him for a moment.

"I'm sorry I woke you up, and for sucking the heat of your bed," she mumbled, "later today I'll suck something else to make up for it," she reached up and flicked him across the nose, hard enough that it hurt, "and don't call me a jerk."

"You can't just use sex to get your way with everything," Jason began to protest, but a quiet snore told him Piper had already fallen back to sleep. _Lucky jerk._ The thought he was angry, but as he looked down at her peaceful face he couldn't help but also feel affectionately amused.

All things considered, his early wakeup wasn't as bad as it might've been. He slipped his personal screen from its pocket by his head and browsed the network for a few hours, reading a few guides on formation flight tips, despite his promise to avoid all things training. As rough as the lessons had been, Jason enjoyed flying, a carryover from being raised by a pair of mechanics. When he was a child he would "help" his father by handing him his tools to  
>repair shuttles, or occasionally sit with his mother in her study as she worked on designs. Of his classes at the Academy, the ones that came easiest to Jason were the ones that had to do with ships.<p>

Although it was perpetually cold in the barracks, the extra blanket and the warmth of his girlfriend pressed up beside him left Jason quite warm. The heat was almost too much; in her sleep Piper shifted, pushing the blankets down to her waist. Jason finished reading and shut down his screen and, knowing he wouldn't fall back asleep, leaned back and enjoying the warmth and silence. Piper's shirt had ridden up her ribcage in her sleep, exposing a strip of skin up to just beneath her breasts. Resting his head on one hand, Jason began tracing a finger back and forth across her exposed skin, letting his mind wander. Despite his plans for laziness, he would probably wander to the shooting range or the firing simulator later in the day, perhaps try to beat Clarisse's shot record…

His musings were interrupted by Thalia leaning over the edge of the bunk above him. She had the sunny smile of a girl who knew she didn't have to work all day, and her gold-blonde hair was so long it fell almost halfway down to his bunk. Jason was reminded of some surreal fairytale character.  
>"Morning Jason," she whispered.<p>

"Hey Leftie," he whispered back, and Thalia made a face. Her right arm was still in its rigid plasticized case, so she extended the middle finger of her left, but she smiled.  
>"You're up early."<p>

"Got an early wakeup call. A cold one," Jason nodded down, continuing to move his fingers across Piper's stomach.

"Oh jeez," Thalia gave the sleeping girl a look somewhere between amusement and pity, "she's got a little bit of 'clingy' in her doesn't she."

"Yea," Jason half shrugged, "a bit. I don't really mind. I've never had that in a girlfriend."  
>Thalia didn't reply, she just looked back and forth between Jason and the sleeping brunette, an amused expression on her upside-down face.<p>

"What?" Jason finally asked, defensively.

"Nothing, nothing," Thalia put her left hand up, still smiling, "I just really never would've guessed you two would get together you know?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, she's just all innocent and cute and annoyingly sugar-sweet, and you're…well…you."

Jason grinned, although he wasn't quite sure if his friend meant the sentiment as a compliment or an insult. Either way, he knew she had his best interests at heart. Thalia was the only one of his squad mates with the same irreverent sense of humor and cynical outlook on life, and they had been fast friends since their first few weeks. Looking up at her frank but questioning (and upside-down) face, he reassured himself that she wouldn't mock him if he answered her statement honestly.

"She's different from me, that's a good thing," he said slowly. Thalia tilted her head questioningly, and Jason struggled to communicate his meaning, "if you spend all your time with someone who's the same as you, well how are you going to change as a person?"

"Why do you have to change for her?" Thalia challenged.

"I'm not changing _for_ her, I'm just…I'm with her because I _already _want to change, you know? I don't want to go through my whole life being the same person, no one should. You got to grow into a different person." _It always sounded so much better when Mom said it, _he thought,

frustrated. He wished he had inherited her grasp of words instead of her green eyes.

"I liked you just the way you were," Thalia pronounced, putting finality into her whisper, "If you were that hard up for some action I would've thrown you a pity fuck or two if you had just asked," she was grinning, and Jason couldn't tell from the expression whether she was joking or not.

Either way his frustration was growing. _Why is it always so fuckin' hard for people to understand what I'm trying to say?_

"I'm not with her to fuck her. Not _just_ to fuck her," he amended for the sake of honesty, "is it so hard to believe I actually think she's a cool girl?" He realized he had raised his voice beyond a whisper as his squad mates began to stir, and he dropped his volume "Is it really so difficult to imagine I might want to grow as a person?"

"Alright alright, calm down, jeez," Thalia whispered, "Date who the hell you want, it's your call. I guess I just always pictured you with a girl who could satisfy you."

"I'm plenty satisfied," Jason whispered back, "Piper takes care of me."

"Okay, then a girl you could satisfy without you changing yourself to do it. And really?" Thalia raised an eyebrow, "she's just the perfect little minx who is dynamite in bed? _Piper_ is?"

Jason stayed silent, knowing his face was sullen and wishing he could hide his feelings better as Thalia continued.

"She's just the complete package huh? Totally trying out one kink after another, bedroom so new and spicy it's like you've got a new girl every night? Not a single kink you have left untried? You've done that 'conference room' thing you told me about?" Jason internally cursed himself for ever telling Thalia about his little fantasy.

"I'm not just a talking penis you know, there's more to our relationship than just the sex," Jason knew that Thalia would take it as an admission. The fact frustrated him, and her smirking face wreathed in blonde locks seemed a lot less cherubic. He tried to think of blonde fairytale villains.

"I know you're not. I'm sorry, I didn't meant to say you were." The girl's apology surprised him? he couldn't remember Thalia ever apologizing for as long as he knew her. She even _looked_ apologetic, "I'm not trying to be bitchy Jason, really. Well, I kinda am, but I always get bitchy when I'm trying to talk about important things. You know what I mean. Piper's a nice girl, but she just doesn't seem right for you. You're more adventurous and less reverent, and it seems like you're doing a lot more changing for her than she is for you. I just don't want you to get hurt when things…_if_ things goes south."

"Fuck you Thalia."

"Look can you honestly say you're happy with how you've changed?"

"Yes!"

"Can you look me in the eye and tell me you're satisfied? Both sexually and all that other emotional bullshit too?"

"Y..yes," Jason had to think about it for a moment, but he realized the answer was true. He was unused to thinking of himself emotionally, but the fact was despite the flaws, Piper made him happy.

"Can you say things couldn't possibly be better?"

Without waiting for an answer Thalia swung back up to her bed, and Jason laid on his back, staring at the bunk above.

"What kind of bullshit question is that?" He asked. The response floated down softly.

"Just a question. If it makes you pissy maybe you already know the answer."

"Of course things could be better, everything could always be better," Jason replied hotly, "we could have two days off like the other rookies. She could be a little more daring, a little less mousy. I could have double luxury credits and servants to wash my fuckin' feet every day. Just because something isn't the absolute peak of utter perfection doesn't mean you should give up on it."

There was silence for a moment, and Jason silently swore. The squad mates all had a level of closeness, but Thalia was his best friend on the orbital. _Why does she have to do this now?_

"Doesn't mean you should give up on making it better," Thalia said quietly, "if you stay with her, don't give up on making it better. For you or her."

"You really are trying to help out aren't you."

"Of course," she sounded surprised, "why else would I be saying it?"

"Dunno," Jason admitted, "you felt your bitch skill rusting and needed some practice?"

He grinned as her hand dropped over the side of the bed, middle finger extended again.

His hand was still resting on Piper's bare stomach, and he noticed that her breaths weren't as deep or steady as they had been in the night. When he glanced up at her face, the slightest flicker of Piper's closed long lashes confirmed the seed of doubt in his stomach. _Fuck, _Jason's idyllic and stress free plans for the day seemed to melt away as he became more and more certain, _she's been awake this whole time._

* * *

><p>Jason wanted nothing more than to be alone. Breakfast had been hideously awkward, as Piper had been more upbeat and cheerful than she had any right to be, even on a day off. Jason brooded, angry at Thalia for making him question things, and angry at Piper for pretending she hadn't heard. As soon as he could make an excuse to leave the table he stormed off, wandering down the hallway with no particular destination in mind. Promise or no promise, he found himself in the firing sim soon afterwards. The room was huge and quiet, and it was easy to lose ones' self in its expanse.<p>

Jason moved to the weapons locker by the door, flicking the double doors open and scanning the array of nonlethal training weapons within. Though his gaze moved across the double row of weaponry, but his focus elsewhere. Were his squad mates really commenting about his changed persona behind his back? Did it matter if they were? Thalia's words were weighing him down, and Piper's chipper and cheerful demeanor made him frustrated whenever he thought of it. _She was awake. I'm sure of it. She heard us talking. If what Thalia said wasn't true, if she really thinks we're both good for each other, why hasn't she said anything? And why hasn't Thalia said any of these things before? Fuck, why is she saying them at all?_

"Fuck women," he snarled, yanking a rail pistol from the rack and slamming the doors closed.

"Reaffirming your mission statement Jason?" Jason almost jumped at the voice that echoed from further down in the room. He peered at the end of the dimly lit expanse, only now seeing the shadowy figure at the other end, fiddling with a row of target orbs. As his eyes grew accustomed to the distance and light, he faintly made out pale skin and brown hair tied in a loose long braid.

"Clarisse. The fuck are- I mean, what are you doing here?" Jason grumbled, making his way down the long room to join her by the orbs. Though he still swore in his head and around Thalia, he was trying to cut down on it when around other squad mates. Piper said it made him sound rough…the thought of changing for Piper made him mentally curse again.

"I like it here, 's quiet," Clarisse said, not seeming to mind his language, "plus it's pretty clear no one's going to beat my accuracy scores in a cruiser, so I thought I'd give y'all a challenge for your firing sim scores too."

Jason, the current second in cruiser accuracy, repressed a scowl, pulling another set of four mechanical training orbs from the wall. _Come on Jason, gotta make an effort, gotta try._

"Um, same here," his voice sounded awkward even to himself as he input his name and password to each orb, "since we're both here anyways, you want to do some coop doubles training?"

"You sure? It'll average our scores if we fight coop, pull ya down an' me up."

"Yea it's fine," Jason cleared his throat, "you'll probably beat my score eventually anyways."

"True," Clarisse joked, as the small spheres hummed to life, lifting from the table in front of them.

The orbs floated motionless for a moment, taking readings of the room and their human targets, then shot off in different directions. They were only about as big as Jason's head, and the hover jets installed in each were enough to propel them at a startlingly fast pace.

Clarisse lifted her rifle and fired as they flew by, but her shot went wide, the EM bullet shattering on the far wall with a small electronic sounding "ping".

"Soo," Clarisse said, as the two of them moved forward, "…'fuck women' huh?"

_How about mind your own fucking business,_ Jason kept himself from snapping out the first response that had come to his mind.

"Um…yea, ignore that," he said instead, as they crept along the wall cautiously. The orbs were using the columns and walls scattered around the giant room to keep out of sight, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

"M'kay," Clarisse responded, keeping her rifle raised and sweeping the room.

"It's just, I'm having issues with your gender today is all."

"Hmm," was all Clarisse said in response. They remained silent for a few minutes as they moved forward, so Jason heard the hum of the sphere behind him. He spun around and squeezed off three shots in fast succession…the first and third went wide, but the second clipped its edge. With a small mechanical wheeze the orb lowered to the ground, neutralized. Before he could even turn back around Jason heard Clarisse's rifle go off twice, the pause in between letting him know that she had aimed more carefully. The two she had targeted gently drifted to the ground, and Jason gratefully noted that Clarisse said nothing about their relative accuracy scores.

He was feeling much better. The exercise, running and twisting, combined with the visceral satisfaction of firing the heavy rail pistol and feeling the kickback, had a calming effect on him.

Another of the targets hit the ground with a small click, taken down in a single shot, and he began feeling truly at ease.

"Thanks, by the way," Jason grunted, stepping behind a column for cover.

"For what?"

"Not pushing me on the whole thing. Letting me just get it out of my system."

"You clearly don't want to talk about it."

"Yea well, it was nice of you not to try to make me."

"Hmm," Clarisse said again, thoughtfully, and then with a friendly smile she brought the rifle up, took careful aim, and shot Jason in the shoulder. The bullet was nonlethal, but it slammed into him with such force that it knocked him backwards, toppling against the column behind him.

"FUCK," Jason yelled, as pain blossomed along his arm, "what the FUCK did you do that for?"

"Well, you don't get along well with people who are too nice," Clarisse said calmly "I needed to even out my good deeds."

"What do you mean I don't get along with nice people?" Jason flexed his arm as he stood to his feet, "in case you hadn't noticed, _Clarisse_, I'm dating Piper," he stressed her full name, knowing she hated it.

"Yea, and then slamming things around and screaming 'fuck women' to yourself," Clarisse pointed out. Jason stared at her for a moment, and she casually fired off three rounds in quick succession, taking out an orb that had been cautiously moving forward. Much as he wanted to be angry for the sting in his arm…she sort of had a point. Even now, looking at the matter-of-fact face of the girl who had just shot him, he had to suppress a grin. It _was_ kind of funny.

"So you shot me to be my friend?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well, yea. It seemed the thing to do. Did it work?"

"Kinda. That's pretty fucked up, isn't it."

Clarisse laughed, and after a moment Jason laughed too. Two spheres swung out from behind a pillar, one to the left and one to the right. They both fired at the left one, but Jason's gun was light enough that he managed to squeeze off a second to send the rightmost careening off-kilter  
>into a wall.<p>

"Okay since you're being all friendly, tell me this, why would a friend try to imply that your relationship is shit?"

"If your friend thinks your relationship is shit, it makes sense to tell you."

"Oh, so you think my relationship is shit too?" A target peeked out from behind a column, and Jason angrily squeezed off a few rounds that landed where it had been.

"I'm just answering your question. I warn my friends when they're in a relationship that seems unhealthy."

"Do you think mine is unhealthy?"

"Hey Jason," Clarisse had been motionless, staring down her sight at the column, and when the orb peaked out again she took it down with a single shot, "it seems like you're dancing around a few questions you want advice on. We can continue doing that if you like, but if you want my advice, why don't you just ask?"

Jason was surprised at the straightforwardness. He mulled it over for a few seconds, and after a moment's consideration, he shrugged.

"Thalia thinks Piper is changing me."

"She is changing you. You already knew that, that's not your question."

"Well yea okay she's changing me, but she's not perfect either! There are some things that she could change."

"Like what?"

"She could be more adventurous. She could be more sexual. A little less clingy maybe?"

"M'kay. So what was her reaction when you told her this?"

Jason scowled, pumping off four shots in quick succession at a sphere that floated near the floor. He was the only one of the rookies who had gotten the hang of using the heavy rail pistol; the delicate mechanics within would often lock up if the user didn't time the shots well. To Jason the machinery was fairly straightforward once it had been explained to him, but the rest hadn't been able to get the hang of it. _Too bad I can't figure women out that easily…_

"Jason?"

"Okay, fine, no I didn't talk to her about it," Jason snapped. He glanced over and saw Clarisse looking down her sights, but she was grinning. "Yea, okay I shouldn't judge her on things I haven't brought up, I get your point." Clarisse didn't say a word, but she continued to grin.

"Okay, then explain this; this morning I was talking about it with Thalia, and I'm pretty sure she was awake the whole time! So she _does _know, why wouldn't she bring it up at breakfast?"

"Cover me?" Clarisse asked, and she ran forward toward the middle of the room, taking shots at orbs that had been hiding behind columns as she went. The movement caused the training spheres to reposition, navigating to remain hidden from Clarisse but exposing themselves to Jason in the process.

"She should've brought it up," Jason repeated, focusing on aiming carefully rather than quickly so that each shot brought a target down.

"Brought what up?" Clarisse asked, swinging her rifle around to hit the orb with the butt. The sphere ducked beneath her swing, and Jason took careful aim and shot it from the air.

"All of this stuff!" he replied as it slowly lowered to the ground, "all the stuff she heard me talking about with Thalia! Why wouldn't she talk about it once she found out I hadn't….been….bringing it up…." He trailed off. Clarisse was standing in the middle of the room, grinning at him.

"You have a pretty smart-ass way of not saying anything, you know that?" Jason grumbled.

"I get that a lot," Clarisse smirked.

The screen on one wall began displaying stats for the completed training session. Clarisse hefted one of the orbs and began carrying it to the table as Jason watched the numbers scroll by. He hadn't done bad.

"Your smart-ass silence helped though," he begrudgingly admitted, "so…thanks."

"Careful there Jason, you're starting to sound too nice. You wouldn't want Piper to change you!"

She chuckled as she lifted the orb up to its rack on the wall. Jason grimaced at her back, sighted carefully at her backside, and pulled the trigger.

"OW! Jason you fucking suck!" Clarisse screamed, spinning as she rubbed her lower thigh. She was glaring, but the corner of her mouth was already quirking upward in a half-grin, "_and_ you still suck at aiming, if that was meant for my butt."

Jason shrugged and grabbed another sphere from the floor, a smile on his face. Clarisse stepped over and grabbed it from his hand, "Give me that. I'll clean up in here, you go talk to your girlfriend."

"We should hang out more," Jason gave up the sphere, "you give off this big mysterious vibe, but once I actually talk to you, you're pretty cool."

"Yea, I get that a lot too," Clarisse muttered as Jason headed towards the doors, "plus it's not all out of the goodness of my heart; if you're not around I don't have to worry about getting nailed with a rail pistol again."

"Oh it's coming," Jason grinned, "you'll get nailed when you least expect it."

"Jason, I have a favor to ask, and this can't be the first time you've heard a girl ask it of you," Clarisse responded with a deadpan look, "please don't nail me."

Jason laughed. Between her and Thalia, maybe there _were_ other squad mates with his inappropriate sense of humor.

"Oh that sealed the deal," he joked, "and next time, I'm nailing you right in the ass."

He turned to the door to find it open, Annabeth and Piper directly on the other side. Both looked severe.

_Fuck fuck shit fuck,_ he thought, stepping through and closing the door behind him to cut off Clarisse's laughter, _Why does shit like this always happen just when I've figured things out?_

"That…wasn't what it sounded like-" he began, before Piper cut him off.

"Of course it wasn't Jason, I know your sense of humor. Despite what you might think, I'm not some paranoid, clingy mess." Jason winced. _Okay…so I've figured things out, now how to fix this?_

"Right…look, Piper, can we talk?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing," Piper's look of severity softened a little, and she turned to Annabeth, "thank you for the talk Annie. It helped a lot. I'll catch up with you later."

* * *

><p><em>'Tell you exactly everything that was said' later, you mean,<em> Jason thought, but he didn't say anything as Piper took him by the hand and led him down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Jason asked, as she led him past the turn to the rookie barracks. Piper didn't answer, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. They continued through the smooth metal hallways, following a path Jason didn't know. After a few minutes they arrived at a dead end hallway, and Piper thumbed the controls of one of the rooms, adjusting its light and temperature, before gesturing for Jason to go inside.

The lights came on as soon as the room detected a presence. It was a large conference room, spacious and comfortable, with a huge wooden table taking up a large portion of space in its middle. The door slid closed behind them, and Piper stepped over to the large table, moving a few chairs aside and then hopping up to sit on the edge.  
>"I'm not mad at you," she said.<p>

"That's…good?" Jason said cautiously, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I just wanted to tell you that up front. I have some things to say, about our relationship, so I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn't mad at you. I'll say my stuff, and then you say your stuff, and then we're going to work out our disagreements like adults, and _then_, we're going to have sex right here," she tapped the table beneath her, "which is _apparently_ a fantasy of yours."

"That sounds fine," Jason replied, _I'll get more brownie points if I apologize for something before she mentions it…_, "except I want to say my 'stuff' first."

"Okay," Piper agreed, "as long as we stick to the 'adult discussion' part afterward." Her chin was raised, and she was wearing an expression that seemed at the same time confident and terrified. She was clearly going to stick up for herself no matter what, and was _also_ scared to death of doing so. The expression was so adorable that Jason smiled in spite of himself.

"I shouldn't be expecting shit from you when I haven't told you what I'm expecting," he said, "it's not fair to act like you can read my fuckin' mind." Piper looked surprised, and Jason wondered guiltily how infrequently he admitted he was wrong that she was so shocked by it. "And," he added, "sorry for calling you a jerk this morning."

"That one was understandable," Piper smiled, "it was really cold."

"Yea well, that's my stuff. You go."

"Um…that was pretty much my 'stuff' too," she said, a little uncertainly, "I wasn't expecting you to have realized what was bothering me. The only other thing that I have to say is that it really hurt to hear you talking so frankly with someone about things you'd never mentioned to me. Especially someone who thinks you should break up with me."

Jason took a deep breath, "I'm not going to stop being friends with Thalia. She's one of my best friends in the Academy, she's like me. I won't throw a friendship away like that."

"I wouldn't ask you to stop being friends with anyone," Piper held up a hand pleadingly, "I'm just asking you to…you know, talk to me. Let me know what's going on."

"I can do that," Jason moved forward and wrapped his arms around her where she sat on the table.

"I'm glad."

They stayed in each other's arms for a few moments, and all of the frustration that Jason seemed to have seemed to release from his shoulders.

"So…a conference room table huh? What's that about?" Piper's arms slid down to his waist, and one hand cupped his rear.

"Oh I dunno," Jason leaned back a little, embarrassed, "when we had that orientation meeting four months ago, when we first got here…I just thought what a perfect height it was, where it would position the girl. And there's the thrill of doing it in a place we're not supposed to. And the chance that someone might catch us."

"Just so you know," Piper leaned back as well, sliding her shirt up over her head and tossing it on the floor next to the door, "if that happens, I am going to be too mortified to have sex with you ever again."

Jason grinned, taking in the sight of her bare breasts as she sat in front of him. The room was slightly colder than was comfortable, and her small pink nipples were hard. The sight of them made him harden, and the way she sat against the edge of the table meant his bulge pressed against her. Piper smiled, and he leaned in to kiss her, rubbing against her as he did so. Without breaking the kiss she began unclasping his pants with nimble fingers. His hands slid up her sides and over her naked chest as she pulled them and his underwear off of his waist, and when he gently pinched at her nipples, she made a small sound into his mouth.

The sound and the cold air against his member were enough to make Jason's heart pound. He knelt and tugged at Piper's waistband, and she lifted to allow him to slip her pants and underwear off of her.

"Cold table," she murmured softly as Jason stepped back, admiring the view as he tossed both pairs of pants into the pile by the door. Piper kicked her legs back and forth over the edge of the table, fixing Jason with a shy smile while he looked her up and down. Her brown hair hung in curls to her chest, almost framing her small breasts. Her legs were pressed together due to the cold, but when she saw him looking she spread them apart to let him see the patch of curly brown pubic hair above her pink lips. Jason stepped forward again, yanking his shirt off, and she wrapped her arms around him as they resumed their kiss.

Jason could feel every contact between them, and the feelings were warm and urgent. He felt Piper's breasts pressed against his chest, her arms around him, her fingertips gently sliding across his back, and her sex, hot and wet against his length. Her hips were making small motions that dragged her slit across his member, and he could feel her making quiet moaning sounds even as they kissed. His lips moved to a cheek, then near her ear.

"What do you want?" He whispered, even as the grinding of her hips told him the answer.

"You know what I want," she responded, breathless.

"Tell me," he commanded.

"I…I want you," she said, and Jason grinned into her brown curls.

"But you already have me," he teased.

"You're really going to make me say it?" Jason was sure he could feel the heat of her cheeks as she blushed, and he purposely pulled his hips away from her, his grin widening.

"Goddamnit Jason," Piper whispered, "your cock, I want your cock, I want you inside of me right now."

She was so wet that when Jason pushed forward he entered her with no resistance, just wetness and warmth. Piper cried out, fingernails digging into his back as she held him close. Just as he had imagined, the table was the perfect height, leaving her directly in line with each thrust. Each time he pushed inside of her it elicited a moan, which made the fire in him rage all the more. Jason forced himself to be careful, to push into her rather than slam his entire length as hard and fast as he could. With her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his back, she was pulling him into her body as rough as she wanted, and the pace was perfect for him.

Piper let go of him and leaned back, and Jason was treated to the sight of her entire body. The blush on her face matched the sweet, quiet moans, and each time he thrust forward her breasts jiggled appealingly. He had passed the point where he could contain himself, slamming forward harder and harder on each thrust, as deep inside of her as he could go. Piper was clearly loving it, moving her hips back and forth to meet him blow for blow, and she threw her head back as she gasped with the pleasure. Her pussy began trembling as the orgasm hit her, and the tight feeling of her quivering sent him over the edge.

He grabbed her as he came, pulling her close to him. Her breath in his ear, her nails digging into his back, and her skin against his skin was a backdrop to the pleasure that locked his whole body up, feeling the pulse pounding through his length. His body released, filling her up as they both cried out.

Jason came down from his pleasure high slowly, relaxing and gently letting her back down on the table. She laid back, panting, and gave a small whimper when he slipped out of her. He looked her over as she lay on the table. Her eyes were closed, and he watched her naked chest rising and falling, a light sheen of sweat all over her body and a smile on her face. _I should grab my screen and take a picture,_ he thought with a satisfied smile, but he didn't want to risk upsetting her. Instead he just stood there, enjoying the sight for as long as she wanted to lay there.

The door began to chirp confirmation noises as someone outside set the room's temperature and light levels. Jason didn't even think, and judging from Piper's surprisingly quick reaction neither did she. He lunged for the pile of clothes, picking them up and sliding them across the desk to wipe up sweat and fluids, throwing them underneath the table as Piper opened a storage closet in the side of the room. They both slipped inside as the conference room's door slid open. The closet's door wouldn't close if it detected life forms inside it, and Jason prayed whoever it was didn't notice the small crack as Piper held the door as closed as possible with one finger.

Someone stepped into the room, whose lights had dimmed. Jason heard muted footsteps, and the small click of an object being set on the desk, and he braced himself. Apparently the single quick wipe had removed any offending streaks or stains from the table's surface, or at least the dim light hid what was left. The figure sat down heavily in the chair at the end of the table, and Jason was finally able to see the man's face. It was General Auspus, highest ranked pilot and commander of Orbital Academy.

Piper must've recognized the man as well, since she stiffened. Normally the sensation of her bare butt sliding against him would be exciting, but in this circumstance he only hoped the tiny noise wouldn't be overheard by the General. If it was, he made no indication, leaning back in his chair and passing a tired hand over his eyes. It was widely rumored that expensive surgery or illegal bio modification was the reason the eighty-year-old man looked no more than twenty, but even with his youthful face, his expression at the moment showed his age. No matter how smooth and fresh his skin, the man looked weary, weighed down and the picture of stress and worry. _But why come here? Doesn't he have his own quarters? Wouldn't they be more private? If he wants a nap, why keep it a secret?_

Something out of Jason's sight on the table sparked with a small 'pop', sending a bright purple pinprick of light into the air. The spark settled on the General's face, and as it slowly burnt out the General showed no indication of noticing it. Another popping noise, and another spark drifted lazily through the air, this one landing on the hem of Auspus' sleeve. For several long minutes Jason watched, confused, as whatever it was on the table kicked off a slow and steady stream of the purple sparks. At one point the stream was so thick that it lit the General completely, his face shining eerily with the purple illumination. Throughout it all the man simply stared off into space, acting for all the world like nothing out of the ordinary were happening.

Eventually the flow of sparks slowed and came to an end. The General stayed for a few moments longer, then leaned forward and collected the item, stowing it in a pocket. Heaving a sigh, he stood and moved out of sight of the closet, his footsteps moving towards the door. The conference room door hissed, there was a pause, and then it hissed again. Although he listened carefully, straining his ears, Jason didn't hear a sound besides the barest of whispers that were his and Piper's breathing. The room's lighting rose, moving back towards its default, and with a sigh of relief he followed as Piper opened the closet door and stepped out into the room.

Jason's adrenaline kicked into overdrive the second he saw the terrified look of panic on Piper's face, her hands flying to cover her naked breasts and crotch. He didn't have to look towards the door to know what he would see, but his gaze was drawn as if by magnets, even as his hands moved to similarly cover up. General Auspus stood inside the room just in front of the closed door, arms crossed, a blank look on his face. Jason opened his mouth to speak, but no words came to mind. _Say something, idiot. Do something, say anything, anything is going to be better than this stunned-fish silence, and it's not like you can make the situation any worse than it already is right now…_

"Rookie Jason Grace," the General spoke in a clear and clipped tone, "and Rookie Piper McLean."

"S-sir," Jason said, instantly hating himself for the brief stutter, "allow me to explain-"

"Did you know," General Auspus continued as if Jason hadn't spoken, "that as the orbital's commander I can, at any time, restrict a Rookie-level from continuing their training on said orbital?" Jason didn't know how to respond. He was stunned, his thoughts were moving sluggishly, and he knew he should say _something_, he just didn't know what.  
>"I don't even need to have a reason. I could prevent either of you from graduating to Pilot-level because I didn't particularly like your haircut." Jason vaguely noted that Piper was hyperventilating. <em>She's going to suffer just because she was trying to make me happy,<em> he realized. His stomach was already in knots, but a wave of guilt felt as if someone had punched it. _I can't let this happen…_

"Sir, if I may-" he began, but again the General spoke as if Jason hadn't started talking.

"If I _did_ need a reason to prevent you from moving on, and again I will stress that I don't, finding two Rookies buck-naked in a private conference room would certainly be reason enough, reason that no authority would question, let alone argue against."

_Say something do something don't let her dreams be crushed because she was making you happy!_ A voice inside Jason's head screamed. It occurred to him how horrible it would be if he himself were kicked out, returning to his parents disgraced and expelled, but he pushed the thought aside impatiently. This was about Piper, about keeping her from trouble; he was willing to pay for his mistakes if only he could keep her from punishment.

"It was my fault-" he began, but he wasn't surprised when the General continued.

"Thus, it is incredibly lucky for you that neither of you made the staggeringly poor choice to be buck-naked in this private conference room." He gazed at the two of them impassively as they stared, confused. "It is astoundingly lucky that you both decided not to take a tryst here. It is amazingly fortunate that you saw nothing transpire afterward."

"Because if anything happens to indicate you had…if any mention is made to a friend or a colleague…if any discussion circulates in any way about something you may have seen after that tryst…then obviously I would be forced to follow protocol and expel both of you from Orbital Academy. And if I were forced to expel you both, I would feel inclined to pass on my disgust to any potential employer, on any orbital in orbit." The room was silent for a long moment after the General made his speech. With a sudden movement, General Auspus turned and stepped through the door, his face never wavering from its neutral expression as it hissed shut behind him.

Piper sunk to her knees as Jason stared at the closed door, dumbfounded. _What was that? He's just letting us go? In exchange for not telling anyone about the sparks? Why do they matter?_ Jason stepped over to Piper, who had begun trembling. He wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned against him, still shaking.  
>"I don't even know what that meant…I was so s-scared," she whispered, her breath catching. Although he wouldn't admit it, the prospect of being removed from his training, cast out and with little chance at a job, had rattled Jason far more than he would expect. Even so, he was more concerned for Piper, who was looking up at him with tear-filled eyes as her entire body shook. He went to grab their clothes from beneath the table, casting his mind about for some stupid joke he could make to take her mind off of their recent scare.<p>

"I'll tell you one thing: after that? I am _never_ letting you have sex with me ever again," he said. Piper gave a strangled laugh as she took the pile of clothes he offered, and he grinned back, even as he felt sick to his stomach.

"Oh really? I'm sure I can change your mind about that," she replied with a weak smile.

"No way. I am resolute on this," Jason yanked his pants back on, slipping his shirt over his head with his other hand, "you'll have to try and try and try to get me to do so. Hell you'll probably have to fuck me for days before I agree to it."

"Just for that I think I'll make you beg for it," Piper teased, and Jason noticed with satisfaction that she had stopped shaking, "but….n-not here, okay?"

"No, let's go back to the barracks, not here," Jason agreed, and the two of them made their way from the room at a pace slightly faster than a walk. On their way out Jason cast a glance over his shoulder. As the lights dimmed, he caught sight of a small singed hole on the chair the General had been sitting in, as if one of the sparks had landed and burnt right through. "Definitely not here."

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><p><strong>AN: I'll also be polishing the chapters (spacing out when different characters speak) little by little so it's easier to read. If I have anymore updates, I'll post in chapter 1. Stay tuned.**


	7. Planetary Prep

**Sorry for not updating like planned. Was doing some things for school, but who cares. Expect 3-4 more chapters uploaded later today. That should earn me an apology for missing a few days. :)**

**Disclaimer: All rights go to the rightful owners. I own nothing.**

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><p>"Sir, can I speak freely?" Captain Calypso Appet spoke through clenched teeth, staring across the desk at the commander of Orbital Academy. "Permission denied," General Auspus replied cooly. His fingers flicked across the screen he held, comparing it to a page of notes on his desk, the picture of distracted business. "Yes sir," Calypso turned and walked toward the door, fuming, mind spinning. "This is why I like you Captain Appet," the General's voice stopped her at the door, "any other person to ask that question would give me a piece of their mind regardless of my answer. Of course that means, ironically, that I am far more willing to listen to your rants than theirs. Yes you may speak freely." "This is stupid, dangerous, reckless and entirely ill-advised," the General's compliment barely registered in Calypso's mind as she turned back to him, "my squad is an excellent rookie team, but there's no way it's responsible to send them on a full planetary run!" "I must admit I'm surprised to hear you say that," the General smiled wryly at his screen as he spoke, "you spoke so adamantly at the last meeting. About the abilities of your rookies, about the need for the orbital to stop coddling first years, about how we faced a threat that would need a strong crop of pilots." "That was when they were going to be fighting a flamer Drake, this is entirely different!" "I see it simply as a natural progression Captain Appet. Your team is the model by which other rookie squads are measured, but right now everyone else is catching up. After the excellent way they handled the exothermic Drake, the next step is to get them experience with a planetary run." "Two of my squad almost died handling that Drake!"<p>

"Captain Appet," the General set aside his screen and turned to Calypso for the first time. Even after a decade serving under him Calypso wasn't used to the look of utter control in General Auspus' face. The age and wisdom of seventy years stared at her from a face that didn't look a day past twenty. He was usually so level-headed that it was easy to forget he could stare her down in a heartbeat. "Orbital Academy's pilots 'almost die' on every single mission they undertake," he continued, his attention fully on her, "we have an incredibly dangerous occupation, without question the most dangerous of any of the orbitals. The brave men and women who are here on this orbital have volunteered their lives towards the goal of keeping the entire orbit safe, and they have done so with the full knowledge that they place their lives at risk. To prevent the exceptional rookies in your squad from engaging in a mission because they might get hurt is a disrespect I refuse to show them. That is all, you are dismissed." Calypso stared at the General. His words left her feeling cowed and immature, but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow…wrong. "You're putting these kids in way more danger than they can handle General Auspus…how can you not see that?" "Captain Appet, I said you are dismissed." She left the room in a daze, head spinning, wondering how she would break it to her squad.

"This is so awesome!" "I knew we impressed them with the Drake" "I wonder if they'll let us substitute this mission for our Pilot-level test?" "Does this make us the first Rookie-level squad to go on a planetary?" Calypso stared at her nine rookies. Their reactions were doing nothing to help the feeling of disorientation that had been following her since her meeting with the General. This is not how any of it was supposed to happen, she thought vaguely, watching them chatter excitedly at the news. "You don't seem very excited Captain," Nico noted perceptively. The others slowly settled as Calypso tried to collect her thoughts. "It's…it's just a somewhat dangerous and difficult task, that's all…" she stammered. No, that's no good, I can't slip back into the weakling captain I used to be. Before this year Calypso had spent a good portion of her time hating herself; with this squad things had been different. Better. She was proud of her rookies, proud of herself, and she would be damned if she changed back, even if the world felt as if it were turning upside-down.

What would the other Captain Appet say, the one that keeps them respectful and skillful and amazing? "…and it's about time we have you Rooks exposed to some real challenge. So, first things' first, you all probably have some incorrect ideas about what's involved in a planetary run. We should clear up some misconceptions. Meet me in the lower ring conference room in ten minutes, and I'll give our first briefing as a squad." The ten minutes would give her time to collect her thoughts, and she could tell from the bright faces that most of them were excited about the prospect of a real mission briefing. Jason and Piper didn't seem as enthusiastic, but Calypso didn't let herself dwell on the fact, instead turning and leaving the barracks with head high.

The room was dark, and Calypso sat at one end of the table, head resting on her arms. Why would the General send these rookies on a planetary? He was nervous about letting them deal with the Drake, what changed his mind? She snapped into an upright position as the rookies began filing in, thumbing the lights up to an acceptable level. "Alright Rooks, best to go ahead and lay it on me. What insane rumors are people spreading about planetary runs that I need to correct?" Calypso had a pit in her stomach as she spoke, letting her gaze travel across the squad as they sat. She felt strangely guilty, as if she had no business talking to them and pretending nothing was wrong. Thalia raised her hand, and Calypso stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "For the last time, Thalia, you're not in Pre-Academy anymore. Stop raising your hand." "I've heard that the atmosphere on the planet is so thick that you can't breath or fly a cruiser through it," Thalia lowered her hand and spoke in a rush. "Partially true. The fog that you see surrounding the planet is toxic, but it only goes down to within a hundred or so feet of the planet's surface. Some of the higher hills can be dangerous, but you can breath on most of the ground. If a cruiser couldn't take off how do you think people would get back from planetaries?" "Just what I've heard," Thalia mumbled, face falling. Calypso softened. "It's alright. Back in my rookie year there was a rumor that the fog would eat away at our suits like acid…" Of course we would have years to learn the truth about the planet before we were sent down there "…but anyways. We should probably go over this from the beginning."

The screens blinked to life, and Calypso forced the doubts and reservations down into a hard pit in her stomach, pulling the image of the strict Captain around her like a protective shield. "A planetary run consists of two teams. The first team will be in a satellite recon skiff, a 'sat flyer', about ninety feet above the surface, just below the fog. The second team will be on the ground, set up in a temporary bunker. The sat flyer team will be relaying information, giving forward warning of dangers, and general topological data. More importantly, they'll provide relay extenders for the ground team, boosting their range. The ground team will be controlling a squadron of drones; the same drones you've been training with for the last three months. The drones will navigate to coordinates provided by the air team, collect resources, and destroy the nests."

Even through the worry in her chest, Calypso felt a bit of pride. Her students were all bent over, focusing on the diagrams in front of them. Focused, attentive, alert. "Who's on the different teams?" Nico asked, leaning back and folding his arms. "Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Nico, you'll all be on the ground since you've got the best handle on drone control." Calypso was grateful for Nico's nudging; she was finding it hard to focus on the briefing, "I'll be with you on the ground. Leo, Thalia, and Bianca will be up in the sat flyer, due mostly to their tech, nav, and diagnostic scores. Jason, Clarisse, you'll also be up there, manning the sat flyer's weapons." A chill ran through the room at the mention of weapons. Calypso could see them all thinking the question, but it took a moment before one of them actually spoke it. "Captain Appet…" Annabeth's voice was quiet, somber, "why will we need weapons? Everyone says planetaries are dangerous, but…I've never heard anyone talk about why. This seems…really simple. Just in and out with drones. I don't see what makes it so tricky, is that just me?" She looked up and down the table, but her squad mates were also shaking their head.

Calypso took a deep breath. It was the moment of truth; they had to know the full story. "On the smoothest planetaries, it is as simple as in-and-out. Unfortunately, they rarely go smoothly. There are going to be several obstacles that we can expect." She kept her voice dispassionate as she spoke, careful not to allow any emotion or quiver into it. "The reason we schedule planetary runs right after Drake attacks is so that we are assured of not running into one on the mission. Drakes are dangerous out of atmosphere, on the planet they are capable of shredding us within minutes. Now that the Drakes are attacking off-schedule, we might not be guaranteed to avoid them on this run." Calypso watched the rookies closely as she spoke, paying special attention to Thalia and Bianca as she mentioned the Drakes. They both seemed sober, but not panicked, so she continued. "The smaller flying creatures though, those will most likely sniff us out before the mission is done. In every case where a flyer has reached a satellite without being shot down, one or more members of our entire air team has been killed. Don't let them get reach you."

Calypso's mental wall faltered for a moment, remembering how it had sounded. The screams had only filled the radio for a few seconds before she had shut it off. In her memory they had lasted for ten years. "Ahem," she cleared her throat, uncomfortably aware of the nine pairs of eyes on her, "it usually takes five to ten hours for the Terrans on the planet to locate the ground team. Usually the air team should be able to give enough advance warning to pull the drones back and pack them up. If not, the temp bunker has fuel and supplies enough to fire up into orbit to be picked up by an orbital rescue team, and the drones will self-destruct. We know very little about Terran weapon technology. Mostly because anyone who has encountered it has died. Data from the air groups indicates that it's either much better than ours, or the Terrans are much better at using them."

Silence stretched through the room. The rookies' enthusiasm had deadened into a serious quiet. "How often is there an injury during a planetary run Captain?" Piper asked quietly. Calypso had to clear her throat twice before answering. "Typically there are no injuries incurred on a planetary run. Those who sustain injuries of any kind are usually lost soon afterwards," Calypso stared resolutely at the screen in front of her, refusing to meet any of her rookies' eyes but knowing she couldn't sidestep the question, "typically runs are made up of nine lieutenant-level and a captain level. There's a reason there are so few captains as opposed to rookie and pilot levels. We tend to…to lose a large portion of our lieutenants to planetary runs."

She couldn't bear to look at any of them, to see the same question in their eyes as she had in her mind; why us? "It's a testament to how confident the General is in our abilities as a squad," Calypso lied. Okay, that didn't sound convincing even to me. If I'm going to keep my new reputation, I need to get out of here. "I've uploaded a list of resources you'll all need to your personal screens, as well as a detailed breakdown of team duties. It will take us roughly a week to get the temp bunker and the sat flyer ready to launch. In the meantime your other duties will be completely suspended." She let herself briefly scan the rookies' faces, to make sure they didn't think she was giving them a vacation. The assembled squad was focused, intent. Calypso didn't have to tell them to spend the time focusing on training their individual job descriptions; their faces told her it wouldn't even occur to them to slack off. She nodded once to herself, and left the conference room. There wasn't anything more to say.

Calypso found herself wandering through the halls of the academy, running a hand along the polished cold walls and headed nowhere in particular. Lost in her own mind, she barely noticed the world around her; perhaps that's why her feet led her along a path that had been ingrained into her subconscious, never quite forgotten no matter how long it had been. When she arrived at the door to the Flying Mettle she looked up, surprised, as if she was waking up from a dream. She hesitated, but after a moment she shrugged and activated the door. What better way to forget about all of this for a few hours?

The warm air and the noise hit her at the same time as she stepped into the well lit bar; the body heat and murmured conversation of fifty people that filled the room. Scent synthesizers worked in each corner to deodorize and sanitize the smells of human and alcohol, replacing them with something non-offensive: as Calypso walked over to the bar she caught a hint of oak. Same as ever.

Calypso was already feeling better, and she hadn't even had a drink yet. For anyone living their lives on the perpetually cold orbital, the warmth of the room was a treat enough by itself, and the murmur of friendly chatter made her feel safe and comforted. I've always loved this place, she mused idly, waiting for the bartender to get to her, Why don't I come down here more often? Her eyes wandered across the clientele, different ranks, different professions, all gathered and drinking, smoking and laughing together. It reminded her of older times, times when it was easier to smile and laugh, sitting at the old table in the corner with the old group. As if drawn by the memories her gaze roved to the table in the corner…and there they all sat, as if they had never left. "What can I get you miss?" The bartender's question was barely enough to break her out of her reverie. Sure they were all older now, some a bit pudgier, some with unexpected speckles of grey in their hair, but the way they were laughing and smiling was exactly the same.

"Nothing, thank you," Calypso took a breath that hitched in the middle, watching them sitting there, and her answer to the barkeeper was quiet, "I was just leaving." For a moment, just a moment, she let herself pretend that things were how they used to be. She let herself pretend that she was about to walk over to join them, and they would all grin and budge around to make room for her, and they would talk and joke. She let herself pretend that Patrick would be joining them. "Sorry for the trouble," Calypso's voice caught, but the bartender simply shrugged and turned to the man behind her. "An' what about you?"

Calypso turned to leave, tearing her eyes away from the table as if by force, head bowed to keep tears from forming in her eyes. A tug stopped her suddenly. The man standing just behind her had her by the arm, his grip gentle but firm. "I'll have what she's having, and she's having a plat-shot with ice," Calypso didn't need to look up to identify the mellow voice. "Evening Professor," she smiled in spite of herself.

Hercules Proferton returned her smile and then some. His grin was so wide it seemed to take up his entire face. As soon as he saw that she recognized him he let go of his grip, turning it seamlessly into a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Go ahead to the table," he spoke lightly, as if it had been nine days instead of nine years since they had last spoken, "I'll bring the drinks when they're ready." A strange feeling was building in the pit of Calypso's stomach, half excited fluttering and half sick dread. "I would absolutely love to Prof, but I'm afraid I'm on a date," she lied smoothly, extracting her arm from his light touch, "but it was wonderful seeing you!" "Mmm," Hercules nodded thoughtfully, "makes sense why you were leaving then." "We're…um…" Calypso blushed, "we're actually on the date somewhere else, I just stopped in here to get us drinks," she tried to save herself, realizing her mistake even as she stammered. "That's why you left without them. Makes sense, makes sense." "Well no, they didn't have the kind of drinks he likes so-"

"Calypso," Hercules said kindly, taking the small tray offered from the bartender, "even if you could lie worth a damn, you know you couldn't lie to me." He tapped his temple with a smile, and Calypso thought she could hear the soft purr of the CPU in his head. "You know I fucking hate that thing right?" Calypso lapsed into honesty with a growl, "it's unfair and I hate it. I always have." Hercules laughed aloud. "Of course I know," he chuckled, "you hate not being able to hide. You hate that I can read off your expressions to tell what's really going on in that secretive, closed off mind of yours. But I think most of all you hate that I know just how to make you forgive my sorry ass." He reached forward and flicked her earlobe with a grin, and just like that it was as if no time had passed between them, like he was the same mischievous and boyish friend who she couldn't bear to be angry with.

"Fuckin' chip-head," Calypso tried hard to keep from smiling, but she knew it was useless. Even knowing that his enhancements made it trivial for him to pick up on social cues, more than even the most perceptive of normal people, she still found it hard to resist his charm. She barely noticed his hand resting lightly on her shoulder again until he began lightly guiding her towards the corner table. "Seriously Prof, I really just want to be alone right now," Calypso protested, even though she knew his chip would pick up on the lie as easily as she had spoken it. "Bullshit again. Something's hurting you Calypso," Hercules grew serious, "hurting you enough to come here even though you knew you'd find us here, even though you're worried being around us will hurt worse. But we can help, I promise you." "I'm going to need about five more of those," Calypso called over her shoulder to the bartender, but she reluctantly allowed herself to be led.

The table's chatter faded when they reached it, and Calypso's stomach did a flip. They were all there. Their expressions ranged from shock to pleased surprise, expressions on faces so familiar it was as if she had been kicked in the throat with nostalgia. Calypso managed to keep from staring as the one she didn't recognize spoke, "Hey Professor, we were wondering if you'd gotten lost," he said jovially, "who's your friend?" "Oh you've definitely heard of my friend Sam," just as she had fantasized, the group budged over good naturedly to make room for Calypso as Hercules introduced her, "may I present the long-absent and much-missed, Miss Calypso Cripshaw." "Appet," Calypso mumbled, as she slid into the booth next to Jack-pip, "it's Captain Calypso Appet now." The mood at the table shifted almost imperceptibly. "You took his name," Lily murmured. Calypso looked down at her drink to avoid the woman's gaze. Whatever was there…pity, sympathy, anger, Calypso didn't want to see it. "Alright," Hercules broke the small silence, "we're not going to pretend we aren't thinking about him, so I'm going to make a toast. But then we're all going to talk and laugh and have a good time, like we used to, because we all know that's how he liked it."

Calypso was grateful to him. The mods may have let him see that it needed to happen, but that didn't make the gesture any less genuine. Hercules raised his glass, and the rest at the table followed suit. "To Patrick Appet. Hell of a pilot, hell of a friend, hell of a lover, or so he liked to say. Hell of a man." "Patrick Appet," Calypso and the other five repeated. The emotion they filled the two words with caught her by surprise. There was a fervor there still, even after so long; the toast hadn't just been for her, they all still felt the loss. The knot in Calypso's stomach loosened by the tiniest fraction, and for the first time all day she felt just a little bit better.

"A captain now huh? Finally started fucking the right people I see," Center slipped easily into the friendly ribbing with his typical inappropriate candor, and Calypso felt better still. "Took me long enough, didn't it?" She joked back with a half smile, "I suppose if you try enough people you're bound to find the right one eventually." "But the wrong ones are so much more fun," Lily winked, and just like that, they were all back together again, just like in the old days.

When the bartender brought her tray of drinks around, Calypso distributed them among the table to grins and cheers. The alcohol was loosening the worry in her shoulders a little, and the camaraderie that slipped back around her so easily was loosening it even more. She pulled her personal screen out and tapped out a few lines, setting them to send automatically later, then leaned back to enjoy the night. The banter and childish jokes, the sudden topic changes and the rapid-fire teasing seemed to pull her out of time. Sure it was slightly different; she didn't know some of the inside jokes, and sometimes they had to backtrack in the conversation to fill her in on this detail or that, but as the hours passed Calypso felt more at home than she had in many long years.

"You have enough luxury chits to pay for all these drinks ma'am?" The bartender asked delicately when he brought the sixth tray of drinks to the table. "Paranoia is a fine qual'ty," Calypso slurred cheerfully, fishing out her keychain and transferring enough to cover her tab and six more trays to receiver in the table. Jack-pip whistled, "They are clearly paying captains far too much these days," he noted, in the clipped and enunciated tone he took on when sloshed. "Eh, I don' use luxury chits hardly at all," Calypso waved a hand vaguely by way of explanation, "don' need much, pretty content wi'out all that." Even half-drunk, Calypso saw the look that passed between them. She knew they were about to ask, and that they'd let Hercules do that asking.

"You've been pretty content, but you haven't exactly sought out your old friends for the last…oh, eight, nine years," he said. His tone was offhand and casual, but Calypso could see the tension in the others that Hercules was hiding so well. "It's been amazing to hang out and catch up with you Calypso, but I get the feeling it was the alcohol you came here to find, not us. What's happened?" They're being careful, think they're gonna scare me away, Calypso realized through the liquor haze. She wasn't entirely sure when the change in her mind had happened, but the thought of never seeing her old friends again was unbearable. "Got assigned a planetary th's evenin'," she mumbled. Her typically demeanor, cheerful but always at arms-length, was being worn away by the alcohol. All she wanted right now was more liquor and perhaps hug.

"Aw hey, that's always rough," Hercules murmured, throwing a sympathetic arm around her shoulder. He always knows. Damn chip-head, Calypso thought, but she smiled and rested her head against his arm in spite of herself. "'s my first one since Patrick," she added, so soft it could barely be heard. She saw the reactions of sympathy around the table, the ones she had been dreading to encounter. Instead of making her angry it almost seemed…sweet.

"No planetaries this whole time?" Center asked, and Calypso didn't miss the warning look that Hercules shot him, "how'd you manage that one?" "Not hard," Calypso shrugged and reached for the tray that had just been set down, "made captain-level as soon as I could. Volunteered to teach the newbie Rooks every year since then." "Probably what I'd do if I could stand busting my ass up to Captain-level," Acren had been nursing the same glass since the beginning of the evening, and he was nodding sagely, "so why send you down now? I thought they didn't pull instructors from leading Rooks mid-year." "They don't," Calypso downed the entire glass in one swallow, and reached for another, "they're sending the rookie team down. I'm leading a team of rookies on a planetary."

There was a moment of stunned silence, then a flurry of exclamations and questions, some outraged and some simply bewildered. Calypso was too far gone to make any single question out among the cacophony, so instead she simply grabbed another glass. "Guys, guys, hold it down," Hercules's voice cut through the noise, and his arm tightened protectively around her almost imperceptibly, "it's pretty clear Calypso doesn't want to talk about it alright. Yea she's pretty obviously getting screwed for some reason, but I'm sure she's doing all she can to get out of it, and she sure as hell didn't come to a bar so she could remember her problems. I think the more serious issue we need to address is that this woman still, to this day, carries a T-320 pistol instead of the clearly superior R-500."

Calypso grinned as the familiar debate was rekindled, Lily gesturing wildly with her glass with Jack-pip backing her up, while Acren drily quoted firing stats and Center made random stabs at various randomly-selected arguments. "Thanks," Calypso said softly, nestling a little closer into the crook of Hercules's arm. "Don't talk to me, T-320 user," Hercules replied snootily, with a dramatic sniff, but he grinned.

Another few trays had passed by the time the bar had emptied and the lights were starting to go out. Everyone in their group but Acren and Hercules were completely drunk, and all of them were cheerful as they stood from their table and walked or stumbled away, shooed by the bartender in a good-natured but firm fashion. With mumbled and slurred goodbyes the crew parted ways, Center, Sam and Acren heading down one corridor and the rest in the opposite direction. "Don' be vanishin' off again, Calypso," Center hissed on his way. "I won't. I won't again," Calypso promised, the gravity of the words seeming to counteract the slur. The rest of them walked on in silence for a few hallways more. "It was really good seeing you again Calypso," Lily smiled when she reached her door. "You should come by again some time," Jack-pip nodded exaggeratedly, "we missed you quite a lot." The two of them entered the room together.

"Wha-?" Calypso asked dumbfounded, "when did those two…" "They've been together for about a year now," Hercules replied, steadying her as they walked, alone, down the corridor to her room, "they're really good together. I think they balance each other well." "'ve missed a bunch, haven't I?" Calypso said quietly. "You don't have to miss a bunch more." "This's me," Calypso indicated the door to her room. She stared at the door for a moment, reluctant to give up the strong chest she was leaning against. "Listen," she said carefully, "you wanna come in for a shot o' coffee or synth or somethin'?" "Mmm, I'm not particularly thirsty after this evening," Hercules replied. Calypso squinted at his face; even if he had been a normal man he would know what 'come in for coffee' meant, but his modifications should've made it obvious what she wanted even before she had asked. He was grinning down at her, and Calypso blushed as she realized that he was perfectly aware of what she wanted, he just enjoyed teasing her.

"Oh, okay," Calypso said innocently, "well in that case you wanna come in to fuck my brains out or somethin'?" Hercules threw his head back and laughed, and Calypso chuckled along with him as he palmed her door open. To her surprise he let go of her, leading her in with one hand but staying outside the room himself. "Much as the offer sounds tempting, I'm afraid not Calypso," he said gently. At her look of confusion mixed with a little bit of hurt he continued, "you're intoxicated right now. Having this," he tapped his temple again, "makes consent a bit of a tricky issue at the best of times, but alcohol makes things pretty clear-cut." "Are you kidding?" Calypso pouted, "'m offering some no-strings-attached, come-and-take-me, any-hole-you-want-it wild sex and you're turning me down?" "You're drunk Calypso. Very very drunk." "Well sure," Calypso winked, "I'd only offer two holes if I were sober." Hercules grinned, but shook his head. "I want very much to say yes Calypso, but-" "Wait!" Calypso remembered and pumped a fist in the air, "Yes! I am a genius!" "That's debatable. What am I waiting for?" Hercules leaned against her doorframe, an amused smile playing on his face as he watched her. "Oooh jus' you wait. 'ts gonna be awesome. Gonna be amazing," Calypso crowed. A few minutes dragged bye, but just as Calypso started pondering whether or not she had set the message to send, Hercules's screen pinged an alert. Calypso did a small drunken victory dance as Hercules read the message.

If I'm timing this about right with the time the bar closes, I'll probably be throwing myself at you about now. And if memory serves me right, you'll probably be being a stick-in-the-mud about it. Consider this advance-consent, so you'll know I actually want this. You have my express sober permission to engage in whatever crude and disgusting acts I'm drunkenly proposing to you right now. ~Calypso

"I'm'a genius," Calypso slurred again, while Hercules chuckled and stepped inside her room, closing the door behind him, "and I'm'bout to be a happily fucked genius." "I'm still not fucking you, genius," Hercules smiled, and Calypso cocked her head in surprise. "Wha? Bu' you saw th'text," she mumbled. Suddenly she was in the air, Hercules was carrying her. To the bed? That's good, that's where it should happen, she thought vaguely, as her stomach lurched for a moment. First heavy blankets and then strong arms wrapped themselves around her, warm and reassuring. So comfy. His arms are really strong. But why isn't he taking my clothes off? How's he going to bang me if we're both dressed-

A steady pounding in her head was counterpointed by the pleasant aroma of coffee, providing an oddly mixed wakeup. Calypso smiled, keeping her eyes closed as she listened to the sounds of Hercules moving around the room. She typically set the lighting in her room to remain pitch-black when she awoke, but he had overridden them and bathed the room in a soft natural level, like sunrise. She stretched, long and luxuriously, reveling in the quiet noises, taking stock of each muscle as she stretched them. I'm surprisingly non-sore for the morning after. Did good old Hercules lose his touch in the last few years? Nestling back into the pillows, she began slowly restringing together the memories from the night before. They had gotten to her room…she had pleaded a little more than she liked to admit…he had taken her to bed…and then…

Calypso's eyes snapped open. "Did you drug me without fucking me you asshole?" She asked, outraged. Hercules set two metal cups down on the table at her bedside, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. He was shirtless, and Calypso was slightly distracted from her outrage by his heavily muscled chest. The speckled grey on his scalp was also present in his chest hair, and she couldn't help but picture her fingers running through it. "If you count the truly impressive amount of alcohol you had, I would say you did a perfectly good job of drugging yourself," he grinned, handing her one of the cups, "drink this, it'll help." "What kind of guy are you, turning down a perfectly good girl who's throwing herself at you like that," Calypso grumbled, taking a sip and wincing at the bitterness of the black coffee, "I hope you're happy, preventing me from getting my drunk satisfaction." "Pretty happy," Hercules took a long draught, "especially since I'm sure we'll both enjoy your sober satisfaction much more than we would've the sloppy half-conscious drunk version."

"Oh?" Calypso lifted one eyebrow as she gazed at him over the lip of her cup, "You turned me down when I was vulnerable and horny. That kind of thing can make a girl self-conscious. Are you entirely sure you'll get the chance to give me sober satisfaction?" "'Course I am," Hercules tapped his temple with a knowing smile, and Calypso leaned back on her pillow with a sigh. "It's not fair," she groaned, "taking the mystery out of everything. Have I ever told you how much I hate that chip?" She closed her eyes. Even though she griped, her mouth curved in a half-smile. Complaining aside, Hercules did have a way about him; half mischievous boy, half charming gentleman. A girl could get in trouble with a guy with that sort of power.

Even now, she wanted his lips on hers, and she knew that he would be able to read that desire all over her face. All she had to do was wait and… Oh, a small shock ran through her when she felt his kiss, light and feathery on her neck, that's…unexpected. The surprise caused a tingling in her chest that wasn't going away, as further unexpected fingers brushed through her hair. Calypso kept her eyes closed, but reached up and ran her fingers across Hercules's chest. He made deep rumble of approval, one that curled Calypso's toes, and then suddenly he was on top of her, his body warm and firm against hers.

Breathing fast, Calypso opened her eyes, pulse quickening. His fingers were still running through her hair, brushing along her scalp as he leaned forward. The room was still except for their breath, and Calypso swore she could hear his heartbeat. Smiled up at him, she met his eyes, inches away, her expression coy and playful. Of all the games she played in bed with all her partners over the years, there was one she could only play with Hercules, and the anticipation was making her giddy.

I think I want his hands to run from my chin to my belly, she decided. She had no clue what had changed about her body language, what imperceptible cues she had given him, but Hercules shifted almost immediately. His hand traced down the side of her face, fingers resting gently on her chin and then sliding down her neck. Fingertips caught on the edge of the blanket on their way down her collarbone, dragging it off slowly as they made their way down between her breasts, down to her stomach. The cool air against her bare body made her smile. "Oh, you won't nail me when I'm drunk but you'll strip me naked in my sleep?" She teased. I want kisses all over my face, she decided at the same time.

Hercules didn't answer her, but he leaned forward, lips grazing against her cheeks and forehead and softly on her lips. The motion moved his chest against hers, and the warmth against her skin after the cold air felt more amazing than it had any right to. Now lower…my neck and chest, she thought, but the kisses continued to rain down on her face. She enjoyed them for a few moments more, but then gently pushed upward so that he stopped and leaned back, so he could see her face. My boobs need attention, she thought again, meeting Hercules's eye. With a wicked grin he leaned down, and Calypso gasped as he took a hard nipple gently in his teeth. His other hand skimmed up and down, from her navel all the way up, over her other breast, to her neck and then back down, swirling in intricate meaningless patterns is it went. His tongue flicked back and forth distractingly; as soon as she got used to the feelings on one side he sent a shock of pleasure down the other.

No more foreplay, the thoughts were so intense that her lips almost moved along with them, no more teasing, fuck that. Fuck me. Now. Hercules's lips pressed against hers with ferocity, and the blankets were ripped from her legs with a suddenness that made Calypso shiver in anticipation. She arched her back to press against him, lifting her hips off of the bed. Somewhere in the teasing he had gotten rid of his loose uniform pants. She could feel him, warm and hard, pressing on her leg.

He shifted, and Calypso shivered as the movement pushed him against her, between her legs. Her arms were wrapped around his back, and she rocked her hips back and forth, the feeling of him rubbing against her slick wetness driving her crazy. She broke the kiss with a gasp, catching his eye again. Hercules was making almost imperceptible movements of his hips that rubbed his member against and over her clit with an achingly slow rhythm. One motion away from filling her completely, sliding across her opening, just one shift away. Stop teasing, she thought, thrust in, thrust in hard.

Hercules lifted his hips, and Calypso braced herself to feel him inside her…and then gasped out a whimper when instead he slid back down again. The feeling of him grinding against her clit, moving against her but not inside, felt so good but at the same time so frustrating. She yanked her head back, fixing him with a look full of lust and longing. Leaned up on her elbows, Calypso focused on her thoughts so hard that she felt like she was mentally screaming at him. Fuck me Hercules, fuck me! Your foreplay duties are complete, I'm ready, take me! Calypso distractedly wondered if his mods just couldn't handle her anymore, even when it was painfully obvious what she wanted. I could always ask out loud I suppose, she thought, but it felt like a shame to lose out on their special game.

She decided to try one more time, placing a hand on his chest to still him as she stared right into his eyes. Shove. Your. Cock. Into me, she thought, giving him a look that even a robot could understand. Hercules's hand came up and cupped her chin, then moved gently down to brush at her throat. His voice, quiet as it was, broke the silence. "Don't. Tell. Me. What to do."

His hand clasped around her throat, and he suddenly slammed her back into the pillows, holding her against the soft material. Calypso was paralyzed with shock, heart racing, the heat between their bodies intense and pleasurable and frightening. When she felt him hard against her opening again her body stiffened. His hand was still wrapped around her throat, holding her beneath him. Was he going to take her whether she wanted it or not? Was he about to take her by force?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind Hercules froze. His hand was still at her throat, but his stillness was complete and clear. She didn't even need to tell him to stop, he would be able to tell the instant she wanted him to. The adrenaline still coursed through her, but the fear subsided, and she took the opportunity to gather her thoughts for a moment.

What the hell was that? Calypso wondered, trying to ignore the aching just beneath her mound and think clearly. She was normally the one in control, she called the shots. For Hercules to pin her like this, holding her gently but firmly around the neck, pinning her to the bed, dominating her body, was… …really fucking hot, she realized with surprise. She wouldn't have guessed that she would be intrigued by that sort of thing, but the way he was subduing her was making her pulse pound. Even though she knew he would stop if she wanted him to, the thought of him taking her like that, in control, using her body however he wanted…she was very, very turned on by the idea.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind Hercules began moving again, his hand releasing her throat and instead grabbing a handful of her long brown hair, much rougher than he had before. He yanked her head back, and Calypso cried out at the slight pain and the unexpected thrill of lust it drew from her. He moved, shifted himself up her body, and suddenly his member was against her lips, his grip on her hair holding her head in place. She took him in her mouth with relish, mind racing at how much she was enjoying herself. The intensity as he thrust into her mouth was sending electricity coursing through her. His warm length tasted of her own juices, and the dirtiness of it was exciting. He reached behind him, sliding two fingers into her without warning. Slick with her wetness they went deep into her body with no resistance, the heel of his hand pressing into her clit as they entered her.

He was forcing himself deeper and deeper down her throat, pulling her head by the hair while rubbing circles against her g-spot with the other hand. Calypso could never remember feeling so dominated, so thrilled and restrained, so utterly lost to desire. When his member left her mouth and his fingers left her pussy at the same time, she gave a strangled cry of disappointment, no no no please I'm so close… Her thoughts were disorganized and disordered, but after all this if she didn't get to finish Calypso thought she would explode.

She gave a tiny shriek when he lifted her bodily off the bed. Involuntarily she grabbed at him, wrapping arms around his shoulder and legs around his waist without realizing what she was doing. Hercules's hand was firm on her right butt cheek holding her up, while the other held her pressed against him from behind. Calypso barely had time to process the feeling of his hard member between her legs before he thrust into her.

It only took the one, glorious, hard thrust to make Calypso cum, and it was all she could do to keep from screaming into Hercules's ear. She squirmed and shook, her whole body shaking with the pleasure. She felt so full, so wonderfully used and stretched and satisfied even as her pussy quivered around his length. He drew back and slammed into her again, and the orgasm seemed to envelop her all over again even as her body tried to adjust to the waves of heat and intensity of the first. He was releasing while buried within her, she could intimately feel it, and the twitches of his cock inside of her felt deep and acute and somehow so right that Calypso stopped thinking and simply rode the wave of orgasm until its very end.

Words like "tired", "satisfied", and "worn out" barely described how she felt as Hercules gently laid her back down on the bed. She lay limp, pleasantly sore and weak, looking up at Hercules who seemed to tower above her, a smug smile on his face. Her head was no longer pounding, but she could feel her pulse in her fingertips and her nipples and between her legs. "You know, you're not the hot shit you think you are," Calypso panted. "No?" Hercules asked, unconcerned. He leaned over her, planting a kiss on her mouth. Calypso struggled to stay silent, until he pressed a single finger against her tender and sensitive clit. She moaned into his mouth, softly, but loud enough that he grinned before he pulled away.

This would be the perfect time for a late morning nap, Calypso thought, closing her eyes. The lights dimmed within a few seconds, and the bed shifted as Hercules crawled between the covers with her. "Fuckin' chip-head," Calypso yawned, already feeling herself fall asleep as she nestled back against him. His bare skin against hers felt warm and delightful. "Why yes," she could feel him smile against the back of her neck, "yes, I believe you are."

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><p><strong>More Percabeth in the next chapter.<strong>


	8. Touchdown Affair

**Expect 3-4 chapters to be upload in the next 1-2 hours. Enjoy**

***All rights go to their respectful owners.**

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><p>It should've been boring, watching the roiling green fog break against the windows, but it had captivated Percy since they had entered it hours ago. Even with the impending danger of the planetary mission, the mesmerizing patterns on the window combined with the low rumble of breaking atmosphere was almost soothing. His squad mates were on their screens or restlessly trying to sit still; the atmosphere in the room was too tense for the normal chattering. Not sure what all the fuss is about, Percy thought as he watched the fog through drooping eyes, nothing's been able to challenge us yet, why do you all think this'll be anything different? He let the hum of the ground pod's engine lull him in time with the slow rocking of the craft, watching the green fog billow and puff.<p>

"Looks like that's it, we're through. About ready to touchdown. Annabeth, sound off to the air team." The Captain's voice broke the silence and woke Percy with a start. Finally…let's get this started, get some action going already! Despite the tone of his thoughts, Percy 's stomach jumped. "Ground team to sat flyer, come in sat flyer," Percy smiled at Annabeth's voice as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. So professional, so on top of things, he thought approvingly. With Annabeth on the comms there wasn't much for the rest of them to do. In theory they would be checking their gear one last time, but the squad had been far too nervous, they'd done final check an hour ago. Percy settled back down and waited, hands folded behind his head. "This is sat flyer team," Percy didn't miss the tension that left the Captain's shoulders when Thalia's voice crackled back over the comms. She's thoroughly freaked out about this planetary, he observed, bad experience? Or is she still not as confident in us as she should be? He mused as Thalia continued; "We've just broke fog as well, ground team. We're activating thrusters now, slowing our descent. We should be in position at one hundred meters exactly by the time you set down."

Percy 's gaze travelled around the room, taking in the attitudes of his squad mates. Nico was calm and collected as usual; Percy had never seen him rattled in their entire time at the Academy. He vaguely wondered what went on beneath that large dark brow that kept him so collected at all times. Piper was twitchy, of course, her leg shaking up and down and her fingers nervously tapping a pattern onto her ready suit. Percy returned his gaze to Annabeth, looking her up and down. She looks good in that getup, he noted, watching the armored pieces shift against each other silently as she reached out to tune the communications, in her element, confident, mature. Hot. "Copy that sat flyer, we'll set down in less than a minute," Annabeth noticed Percy watching her, and stuck out her tongue at him. Percy grinned in response. Alright, in her element, confident and hot. Three out of four ain't bad.

The landing was entirely automated, and smooth enough that the jostle didn't even knock the squaddies off their feet. Percy was almost disappointed. Captain Appet stood and joined Annabeth, helping her at the large control panel. It was really made up of several control panels arranged in a ring that took up much of the ground pod's single room. The rest of the squaddies stood, stretching, glancing out of the small and sturdy window. "Alright Rooks," the Captain said, a rare smile gracing her face, "I didn't mention it before, but there is a little treat to planetary runs." She flicked the comm switch open again, "sat flyer, can you give me readings on the fog? Confirm we are in safe atmosphere?" "Yes ma'am Captain…" Without any technological interference Leo' voice was crystal clear over the comms, "there's a lot of information here…give us one second to…yes, we can confirm, you are in breathable space." "Excellent," Captain Appet smiled, and input routines from her station. With a hum, the panels that made up the four walls of the pod slowly lifted, sliding up and locking to form a huge overhang, leaving the room open and exposed to the surface of the planet.

It was almost too much for Percy to take in all at once, and in his peripheral vision he vaguely registered his squad mates similarly stunned, dropping their various equipment and gaping; even unflapable Nico's mouth had fallen open. "It's so…green," Percy stammered, "so green and so bright." "All of their light is generated naturally by the star," the Captain was looking around her, hands on hips, the faint smile still on her face. "Do you smell that? It smells like perfume!" Piper was breathing deeply; Percy hadn't noticed until she mentioned it. "The flora that grows on the surface gives off those scents naturally," Captain Appet explained. "I don't like it," Percy decided, "it's weird…there are too many colors all over the place. And do you feel that air? Feels like I've got my face stuck up against a vent." "Wind. Naturally occurring differences in pressure drag the air in currents all along the planet's surface." "Get a grip, Li," Annabeth snapped. It was clear she was enjoying the colors, the smell, the air that slipped quietly by, "I think it's beautiful." "Hard to look at," Percy grumbled, "I'd much rather work with the walls down and locked into place." "That's too bad," Captain Appet had suddenly returned to her normal businesslike demeanor, "the walls don't cut the drone's range by much, but every bit helps."

Her clipped tone pushed the squad into action again. Piper and Nico pulled four heavy drones from their protective cases, adjusting antenna and feeding in volatile power cells. Percy flicked a few switches, and in the center of the ring of controls a holographic display slowly hummed to life. When he was satisfied with the clarity, he moved back and forth between the drones and the ring, linking the drones and hooking them up to stream holographic data to their pod. Percy glanced over to see Annabeth slightly pale, fingers drumming lightly and nervously on the controls. Cold feet already? Come on Aimes, you're better than that. "It's just like the drones back home," Percy reassured her aloud. "'cept now I don't have your tongue distracting me," Annabeth shot back with a smile, quietly enough that only he could hear. Percy grinned and activated the setup. Don't know why everyone's all quivery. This is fun. The drones buzzed, crackled, and lifted from the ground. Piper and Nico backed away hastily as small arcs of electricity slid across their sleek back surfaces. "They look evil," Piper muttered, "like little dangerous flying creatures." "Good," Percy said decisively, letting his fingers slide across his controllers without thinking about it, "they give us Drakes, about time we give them something to be afraid of."

One of the drones moved in perfect response to Percy 's commands, making a slow circuit around the room. A holographic representation of the room and the squaddies within appeared in the center of the pod, accurate to scale, filled in with the data from Percy 's drone. The other drones sprang to life as his squad mates joined him at the wide control panel, booting up their own drones. "They've got our preferences keyed in already," Percy grunted appreciatively. His drone moved tentatively out of the overhanging lifted walls, into the sunlight that lit the clearing where their pod had landed. Piper and Nico were splitting their attention between the drones, the holographic display, and their controls. Beginner's mistake. You've gotta learn to key the controls without looking, and tune everything else out. Huh… Percy mused, Annabeth and I must've learned more than I thought during our little private training sessions. The drones belonging to the two of them had already moved into the trees and out of sight of the pod. Handling a single drone was laughably easy to Percy when he was used to controlling five of them while 'distracted' by Annabeth.

"Keep together you four," Captain Appet cautioned, "Percy and Annabeth slow it down, Nico, Piper, a little faster please. Air team," she spoke into the comm console she was sitting at, "start talking. We should be getting a pretty steady stream of info, anything you think could help." "Roger that captain," Bianca spoke clearly, obviously the spokesperson for the air team. Her voice was overly official, but Percy liked that. Good for everything to sound official, on an important mission like this. "Leo has pinpointed the target, definitely artificial buildings about a hundred kilometers west of where you touched down…" Percy only half listened to the conversation between the captain and the air team. His drone was behind Annabeth's, and as long as she was listening he could just follow her. The time passed, uneventful and somehow incredibly relaxing. The surface of the planet was so warm, and despite himself Percy was starting to enjoy the wafts of warmed currents that brushed past his face, even though they felt odd. He was so comfortable with the drones that barely had to focus on controlling them, instead letting himself get caught up in the scenery that they were streaming back to the table.

The trees are the unnerving thing, he decided. Alive but not conscious, similar to flowers but huge, thick, gnarled. The unevenness of the ground was utterly unfamiliar, the few bumps and inclines were the only things that occasionally made him have to focus on his drone. The sharp sudden movements of birds and small mammals was distracting and startling. Nico almost opened fire on the first one he saw, but the Captain barked a warning and they let the creature pass unharmed. An hour passed by and Percy barely noticed.

"You're about three kilometers out ground team," Bianca's voice sounded excited, "we've got signs of activity in the buildings but we can't pin down exactly what they're doing, so go in prepared to start fighting. Clarisse says give 'em hell." "Bianca," the Captain barked, slammed her fist onto the communication button so hard that Percy jumped, "Clarisse is NOT supposed to be on the scanners! I said two people on weapons, TWO!" She actually shouted the last word into the comm. Percy had never heard the Captain so much as raise her voice before. Just how rattled is she right now? "We have Clarisse and Jason on the weapons Captain, she just yelled that comment from the gun station," Bianca sounded a little more uncertain, but she kept up her professional demeanor, "Leo is covering heat sensors, Thalia is handling topography, I'm monitoring the area surrounding your pod and providing communications. Clarisse and Jason haven't stopped watching the skies since you've left Captain." "I…I'm sorry," Captain Appet stammered, "um…carry on."

The squaddies exchanged glances over their controls. Percy was sure the same question was passing through all of their minds, but he put a voice to it. "Everything okay Captain?" He tried to keep his voice casual, avoiding her gaze by staring intently at the holographic display. "Yes. I'm sorry," Captain Appet was speaking more like a squadmate than a captain, and somehow that rattled Percy even more than her yelling had, "we've been really lucky so far, no attacks, no nothing. We've been on the ground for what, an hour? Hour and a half? Planetary runs rarely get that lucky. It makes me nervous." "Maybe we're just that good…they don't want to fuck with Captain Appet's A squad," Percy tried to cheer her up with humor, and was rewarded with a half-smile from the Captain. "Such a fucking stupid name," she muttered, still smiling. "If it makes you feel any better captain," Bianca' voice broke in through the comms, "I've got all sensors up and tuned, and I'm not seeing any life around your pod. Well, I see birds, but nothing that might be threatening." "Birds?" Percy was surprised, "You're sweeping at that fine of a resolution?" "You may be handy on the drones, hotshot, but Thalia and I have scanning down to an art form," Bianca' voice was even and confident. After a short pause, the comms clicked on again, "Leo would like it to be known that he too has scanning down to an art form."

Percy chuckled, his foot tapping impatiently on the metal floor of the pod. About five minutes before contact. Five minutes away from my first Terran firefight. Kickass. "This is excellent," Annabeth's nerves had apparently settled, she too seemed excited at her controls, "at this rate we're going to have the smoothest planetary run the academy has ever seen." Captain Appet sucked in a breath through her teeth at the same time that Bianca groaned on the comms, "Aaaw squadpet, why'd you have to go and say that?" Percy grinned at the use of Annabeth's hated unofficial call-sign. "You realize that now you've jinxed us, we're going to have the worst luck, or some outlandish and horrible fre-"

Bianca' voice cut out. The lights along the paneling cut out. The holographic display flickered and faded, throwing off just enough display to show the drones lowering to the forest floor before the holograph died. Percy blinked, unsure of what to do as the light from the controls beneath his hands faded.

"W-what…" He stammered, pressing and tapping on the blank screen. The Captain was already moving, yanking out the emergency comms from beneath one of the control panels. "What's going on? The fuel cells should've been good for another twenty four hours shouldn't they?" Percy moved forward to help with the generator, but Piper and Annabeth were already at the Captain's side, connecting leads and adjusting cables. "Should've. Clearly aren't," the Captain snapped tersley, "it's got to be some sort of attack. We lose power, it cuts our communications and our drone control. That's too much of an advantage for me to assume it's a coincidence." Percy drew his pistol and peered up the hills that surrounded them, his squad mates doing the same. Behind them the emergency comm hummed to life, instantly filled with static. The Captain was speaking almost at the same time, "Air team come in, are you all right? Air team come in."

"This is the air team, we read you," Bianca' voice was hard to hear through the miserable connection, but it was clear enough that they could make out her words, "are you okay? We read a massive power spike and now nothing…" "Power failure of some kind," Captain Appet visibly relaxed, opening one of the blank control panels and pulling out the fuel cells within, "my guess would be forced power failure." "Understood ground team. Are we pulling out? We've got you on sensors but we're not seeing any Terran activity nearby." "No, I've got some chargers for the fuel cells, it's just going to take us a bit to get them up and running," the Captain gestured and Percy jumped to follow her command, sliding his pistol back in its holster before rooting through the bags that had been set in the corner.

"That's…not standard gear for a ground team, is it captain?" Percy couldn't tell if Bianca' tone was cautious or just curious, but he listened closely to the captain's answer as he pulled the bulky chargers from the bag. "Not standard gear at all," the captain admitted, "but I take every precaution I can think of. In this case it's come in handy." "Captain did you expect something like this to happen? Has this happened before on a planetary?" "I…" Captain Appet seemed to be struggling for words, and Percy studiously avoided her gaze as Piper helped him plug the four heavy fuel cells into the chargers, "…something doesn't feel right about this planetary run. This hasn't happened before that I know of, but…I can't explain it, but I'm paranoid about this planetary, and now I'm glad I was. We'll be up and running in about an hour, so I suppose all of us on the ground will just sit tight until then. Sorry air team." "Jason says 'these things happen'," Bianca relayed, "er…not in those exact words. We'll continue monitoring up here." "This extended timeline is going to mean you'll almost certainly have to deal with flyers air team. Make sure Clarisse and Jason keep a sharp eye on the skies." "Roger that ground team. Air team out."

"Stay within shouting distance, but other than that," the Captain waved vaguely, "you all can explore the surroundings if you like. Normally the ground team is too busy to enjoy the sights and sounds, so take advantage of it. Souvenirs are fine, but make sure to run anything artificial-looking by me first. I'll give a shout when we're charged up again." Annabeth grabbed Percy by the arm and pulled him out of the pod, into the open air of the planet. It was…spacious. Too open. There was no ceiling, no tight hallways, just a sky that stretched on forever and trees and grass on every side. "It's like being in space," Percy realized aloud, "like being in space if everything were too colorful and too bright." "I know, isn't it amazing?" Annabeth smiled, "smell that, smell the air, doesn't it smell so…fresh, somehow?" "Not really. Where are we going anyways?" They had reached the top of a small ridge, and Percy looked down into the valley at the pod, then at down at the empty and silent forest on the other. The trees were thicker there, and somehow menacing. "I'm going to force you to like being on the surface," Annabeth grinned. She pulled him a little ways down the ridge, just far enough that the pod was no longer in sight. Percy followed begrudgingly. As much as he disliked the trees around him, he liked what Annabeth's grin meant.

"You've got your work cut out for you," Percy grinned back as Annabeth paused a little ways away from him, pulling her shirt over her head with her back to him, "the planet sucks, and all I see here is more sucky planet." "Oh?" Annabeth tossed her hair as she looked at him over her bare shoulder, "maybe you just don't appreciate beauty when you see it." "Maybe," Percy sat down in the spongy green moss casually, but his mind raced. She was playing a game with him, same as always. Annabeth wasn't coy, no, she wasn't showing her front because she wanted to win. So the game is, she wins if she can get me to say it's beautiful before she fucks me Percy rested his arms on his knees as he thought …I win if I can get into her pants before I say it's beautiful…game on…. "Maybe I'm just spoiled 'cause I get to see you naked all the time," he finally said, "maybe that's skewed my appreciation for beauty."

"Oh please," Annabeth turned, but she kept her arms crossed over her chest, rolling her eyes in exasperation as she walked over to join him, "are you even trying?" "Okay so that was a little cheesy," Percy agreed. I'm no good at this one…new tactic… "I guess it's just more of the same to me. Here or back at the pod, it's all just green, green, more green. And blue." He glanced up, facing the unnervingly space-like sky. A vast stretch of unbroken blue, marred only by the air team's sat flyer. The airborn command station hung in the air as if it had been hung on the sky, although four huge hover jets quite clearly supported it. Its base was wreathed in clouds from the steam vapor the jets' caused, and the sight was much more natural looking to Percy than anything here on the surface. "What's the planet got that beats the orbital?" He asked.

"Look at it you clod!" Annabeth swept one hand out to indicate the trees, grass, forest and flowers around them, but Percy was more interested in the skin she had exposed by the motion. Privately the planet was definitely growing on him. It was warm and bright, and in its own wide-open way, it was beautiful. On the other hand, pretending to hate it had rewarded him with the sight of more of Annabeth's smooth brown skin. Her other arm was only covering her nipples, leaving the tops and bottoms of her breasts exposed. Annabeth saw him looking and grinned, placing her hands on her hips and letting her boobs bounce free. "Can you at least appreciate that it's something new, when you've spend your whole life in plasticine and metal hallways."

"I dunno," Percy leaned back, half closing his eyes, "I'm definitely appreciating the sights, but the only view I like right now is one I first saw up in the Academy." "Hmm, I can see your point," Annabeth had stepped closer, standing right next to where he sat, so when she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her pants and shimmied them down, he was given a close look at the neatly trimmed black curls between her legs, "I suppose the only solution to that is make sure you have a fresh, new experience here on the surface." The sight of her naked body so close to him was enough to make Percy hard, but her words made him sit up and fully open his eyes. Something new eh? He scanned her body up and down, enjoying how unabashed she was about her nudity. He could swear that mingled in with the smells of flowers and plants he could smell her scent…she was certainly close enough. When she suddenly bent down over him, pulling at his clothing, he was sure of it.

This is how it always goes, Percy thought, grinning as he let her yank his pants off with her characteristic ferocity, we play our games until neither of us can stand it any more, at which point neither of us give a fuck who's won. Annabeth clearly wasn't in the mood to be teased for even a second longer; she squatted down until his member rubbed against her, and with a single motion slammed herself down on him. In spite of himself Percy gasped, partly at the unexpected suddenness, and partly at the feeling of his entire length spearing into her body all at once. She was wet and the motion had been fast, a deep penetration in less than a second, and it took Percy 's mind a few moment to catch up. So fucking good…not exactly new, but so fucking good. "Is this what you wanted?" Annabeth whispered, pressing her forehead against his but otherwise sitting completely still. "Yes…very much yes," Percy breathed. He could feel the pulse in her pussy throbbing against him, and feel his heart beating almost in time. Not entirely what I wanted…but close enough "You are so fucking bad at lying," Annabeth chuckled, and slowly raised her hips, sliding off of his aching member. Disappointment stabbed through his chest, but Percy didn't show it, keeping a straight face as his tip slid out of her. "Or maybe you're just bad at lying to me," Annabeth grinned, her face a few inches away from his face, "which is kinda cute actually. I said 'something new', and you've had my puss before haven't you? Not exactly satisfactory."

Percy opened his mouth to reply that it was actually quite satisfactory, when Annabeth arched her back just a little, sliding the tip of his cock a little further until it was pressing against her asshole. "Now this," she whispered, "this is new." Percy 's eyes widened. Very occasionally, even with their game discarded, Annabeth somehow managed to win. "Okay. You're going to remain absolutely still, because I've never done this before," Annabeth instructed, her hips moving in slow circles, rubbing her ass against the tip of his penis as she spoke, "and we're going to take it very slow, and if it hurts too much we're going to stop and get off some other way." "I think I can live with that," Percy murmured. "And when we're done, you are going to sing this planet's fucking praises," Annabeth grinned, before she pressed her hips down.

There was a little bit of resistance at first, but his tip finally slipped into her asshole with a gasp from the both of them. She had been wet before, and his entire length was covered in her juices, making it easier to slide in, but even so Annabeth lowered herself very slowly onto him, inch by inch. Her hole was tight, tighter than anything Percy had experienced before, and it felt so good that he gripped her hips hard to keep from involuntarily thrusting the rest of the way. "Oh god, Li," Annabeth gasped with a shuddering breath, and the soft sound combined with the tightness of her ass almost sent him over the edge. She was shaking, actually shaking, and when he looked into her face he saw she was blushing. She likes it…fuck, she likes it as much as I do…

Annabeth took a breath, and then pushed herself down hard, taking the last few inches of Percy 's cock inside of her butt and digging her fingers into the sleeves of his shirt. Percy had to strain, but he kept completely still as she panted. He watched her breasts rise and fall, as the tiny motions of her breathing sent shocks of pleasure up and down his entire length. Annabeth was biting her lip, her eyes clamped shut, and he couldn't tell if her face was contorted in pleasure or pain. "How you doing?" He finally asked. "Fuck, Li, fuck it hurts and it feels so fucking good at the same time," she gasped. "Do you want to stop?" Please say no, please say no, please say no, Percy kept his mental begging off of his face as he watched hers. Annabeth opened her eyes, meeting his with one of uninhibited lust. "I don't want to stop," she said fiercely, "it feels so fucking good I want you to…I want you to fuck me as hard as you can." Somehow Percy 's cock stiffened even harder inside of her. "It's gonna hurt more," Percy moved his hips a little, just enough to feel the tight walls of her ass pressing against him, and enjoy the tremor it sent through her body.

Annabeth grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and stuffed it between her teeth, her eyes never leaving his. Muffled through the fabric, Percy could still understand the two words she growled: "Hurt me." Even if he wanted to he could no longer resist. Percy grabbed her hips and pushed her away, sliding out almost all the way, and then yanked her back down, thrusting his hips upward at the same time, slamming his cock into her asshole as deep and hard as he could. The fabric muffled Annabeth's scream of pleasure, but she wrapped her arms around him so tight it almost hurt. He didn't have to lift her again, she pulled her butt up and slammed it down on him again, only pausing a moment before she lifted for another thrust. Each time she pushed back down was better than the last, and each muffled gasp and moan made it that much hotter. The tightness of her ass squeezed hard at his entire shaft, and he could feel how much she was loving it by the slippery feeling of her wetness rubbing against his lower stomach on every blow. He reached down and slid two fingers effortlessly inside of Annabeth's pussy as she impaled her ass on his cock again, and she almost tore the fabric of his sleeve as she came.

Percy felt the orgasm ripping through Annabeth's body, both in his fingers and in his member. Her slit clamped down on his fingers hard, but her ass squeezed and tightened enough that it sent him shuddering over the edge himself. The orgasm build and spurt out of him, filling Annabeth's ass even as she twitched and quivered. She was still riding him, lifting up and slamming back down on him, and the feelings of tightness and warmth were so intense that the pleasure almost hurt. Just when Percy thought he couldn't take another thrust, Annabeth finally slowed to a stop, slumped against his chest.

Annabeth didn't get off of him as much as she collapsed next to him, crumpling into a naked, grinning heap. "Hot damn," she panted. "Hot damn indeed," Percy grinned back, pulling his pants back up leisurely, "planet still sucks though." "You fuckin' dealbreakin' sack of shit," Annabeth grumbled. "Kidding. The planet is awesome. Fuck, it didn't matter where it happened, any place I get to take your anal virginity is officially the most awesome place in the universe." "That's more like it," Annabeth rolled over to her back, staring into the air, while Percy took the opportunity to enjoy the sight of her breasts. "Fuck." "I know," Percy agreed, "Holy fuck!" "I know! That was quite the-" "No…Percy…look," Annabeth was pointing at the sky, face pale, and when Percy followed her arm he paled as well.

The sat flyer still hung in the sky above them, but every light was out, and the angle seemed wrong somehow. One by one, the fire in each of the four jets died as they watched in helpless horror. Slowly tilting in the air, the sat flyer seemed to hover weightless for just a moment.

The sat flyer lost power. Percy thought dully, as he watched the vessel full of his squad mates fall from the sky.


	9. Broken Wings

**Here's the next chapter.**

***All rights go to their respectful owners.**

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><p>Bianca wished she hadn't woken up the second did. She was surrounded by pitch black, and there was so much pain she had trouble for a moment identifying where it was coming from. Blinking, she shook her head a few times, trying to remember where she was. The sat flyer…we were on a planetary… She sat up at the memory, and the sudden motion caused a wave of further pain to wash through her, making her almost vomit. Leg…the pain is definitely coming from the leg. After the Drake attack Bianca' broken leg had been healing at a rapid rate, but the mind-altering pain indicated that her two week healing process had been for naught.<p>

Careful not to move the damaged limb as much as possible, Bianca adjusted her seat, trying to make out her surroundings, hoping that her eyes would adjust to the darkness soon. She could hear faint muffled noises, but no matter how she strained all she could see was blackness around her. For a heartstopping moment she wondered if she had lost her other eye…but no, the pain pulsing in her leg told her she wasn't numb, and her head felt just fine. Disoriented or not, I'd notice the pain from a missing eye.

Even in the haze of pain and the disorienting darkness, Bianca recognized Thalia's voice when she started scream, even though it was muffled. "Oh my god, Bianca? Bianca! Where are you!" "I'm here, I'm okay!" she tried to respond, but her mouth was so dry her voice came out somewhere between a croak and a cough. Sounds of metal and plasticine shifting echoed through whatever chamber she was trapped in, and a shaft of weak light broke in. "Bianca? Please god Bianca can you hear me?" Bianca could hear the others calling her now, but Thalia's voice was frantic. "I'm fine, I'm okay. I think I rebroke my leg but I'm alright." "Oh thank god Bianca, hang on we're going to dig you out."

It took the efforts of Thalia, Leo, and Jason to carefully remove pieces of rubble and broken walling from where Bianca had been trapped. She barely recognized the twisted pieces of wreckage as the radar station. Clarisse stood a little ways off, clear of the junk, scanning the trees around them with a pistol in her hand. "Alright," Jason spoke as the three of them set her down with care, "we're all safe at least, that's something to be thankful for." "Thankful?" Thalia's panic seemed undiminished, but Bianca tried not to take it personally, "thankful? We've been planetside for two hours, and we're stuck planetside! You were at the briefing Jason, Terrans attack the ground team within the first handful of hours, and the ground team doesn't have a fucking satellite crash to broadcast their location! We didn't survive the crash, we just postponed our deaths!"

Bianca reached up to take Thalia by the arm, but Thalia shook her off, jostling her leg in the process. Wincing and gritting her teeth hard, Bianca spoke. "We're not dead yet Thalia. The calmer we can stay, the greater the chance we'll have to survive." "That's fucking stupid," Thalia spat, "the Terrans won't spare us because we're calm." Don't let it get to you, Bianca took a few deep breaths in the face of Thalia's attitude, she's not angry at you, she's lashing out due to stress. Shaking her head and keeping the hurt from her face, she turned to the others. "She is right on one count though. The crash is going to attract them; we need to get as far away from her as possible, as fast as possible." "Agreed," Jason nodded, "Leo and I have been salvaging what we can get from the wreckage, but I think it's time to make tracks." "Did you find a crutch?" "We found pieces. If your leg is rebroken one of us is going to have to carry you." "I don't want to slow us down," Bianca looked around her, but there was nothing in sight that would support her weight. Reluctantly she let Leo lift her onto his back, not complaining when her leg was banged in the process.

Clarisse led the way, silently, followed by Leo carrying Bianca. Thalia and Jason brought up the rear, carrying two heavy packs of supplies. The ground was uneven and rough, and every ten steps or so Leo would stumble, sending Bianca' leg cracking into his back, but she didn't voice her pain. Thick trees surrounded them, cutting down their visibility, and Bianca tried to gauge how far away they would be able to see an attack coming. They had been hovering almost directly over the ground team, but their scanners hadn't picked up any Terran activity before they had crashed. If hostile forces had started moving as soon as the sat flyer's scanners went down, they had about an hour from the crash before they could expect company. "How long was I out?" Bianca murmured quietly. "Took about a half-hour to find you," Leo grunted, hoisting her to a more stable position on his back. "Supplies?" "All the sleeping bags, three pistols, food and water for a few days, emergency flares, a tent. Not much." Not enough, Bianca interpreted his grim tone, not unless rescue is right on our heels.

They traveled in silence for an hour before they had to take a break, ears straining to listen for sounds of pursuit the whole time. Even with Jason, Thalia, and Leo carrying burdens, they had been able to keep up a jogging pace, and Bianca silently thanked Captain Appet's required physical training routine. It had kept them ahead of their pursuers. For now. "We'll take a three minute break, then get moving again," Jason panted as the squaddies removed their loads and caught their breath. "We should take it in shifts to keep track of time," Bianca commented lightly, as Jason checked the time on his subdermal clock, the numbers lighting just under the skin of his wrist, "since we won't be able to charge them until we get back." "We're not fucking getting back," Thalia snapped, and Bianca winced. She knew they were all thinking it, but she had been trying to keep spirits up. "Look, Thalia I understand alright? I'm just as scared as you are, and even less mobile." Thalia crossed her arms and leaned back against a tree, but she wasn't interupting so Bianca continued, "but we can't just give up. If we're done, we're done, but I'm not just going to lie down and die, I'm going to fight for as long as I can." Thalia didn't respond, but she did seem a little calmer. Bianca counted it as a win.

"We should get moving," Clarisse had been pacing around the area they rested in, peering into the trees. It was the first sentence Bianca had heard her speak since they had crashed, and the tension in her voice was almost palpable. I guess we're all displaying fear in our own way… "Take my pack Leo," Thalia said brusquely, "I'll take over." Grateful as she was to Leo for carrying her as far as he did, Bianca was more comfortable as the group started moving again. Thalia held her closely pressed against her back, and being able to bury her face in Thalia's golden hair was somehow comforting to Bianca. "I'm sorry," she whispered into the other girl's ear. Even though they hadn't talked about what they were, and had only slept together a handful of times, Bianca liked to think of Thalia as her secret girlfriend, and she tried not to do anything that would upset her. Some of her squad mates found Thalia prickly or bitchy, but Bianca could see through the act she put on. Thalia's defensiveness was to hide how fragile she could be at times. Bianca tried to keep that in mind as she spoke, "I'm sorry Thalia but I just don't want to see us giving up here. Not when there's still a chance." "It's fine," Thalia's response was terse and tight, clearly not 'fine', but Bianca didn't argue.

There was no incident for the rest of the day, moving at a fast pace through seemingly endless forest. The silence was oppressive, but none of the rookies dared speak too much. If we're really going to die, it would be horrible if these were our last moments. Bianca thought glumly, Silent. Afraid. "We should probably make camp before we lose too much light," she finally broke the silence. "I was thinking the same thing," Jason agreed quietly, glancing up at the dimming sky. Leo slung the pack from his back and began rummaging inside for the tent and supplies, while Clarisse and Jason started a slow patrol around the clearing that would become their makeshift camp.

Thalia set Bianca down near the closest tree and began fiddling with the sealing clasp on her pants. "What are you doing?" Bianca winced as Thalia's motions nudged her leg. "We have to do something about this," Thalia replied shortly, carefully pulling Bianca' pants down and off. The cool air felt good against her swollen leg, even though Bianca noticed Leo glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She leaned back as Thalia wrapped her leg with sealant bandages that would harden overnight, and tried to ignore that she was sitting on the forest floor only wearing panties. "You know I love you, right?" Thalia said quietly. Bianca looked at the other girl in surprise, but she was focusing very hard and avoiding her gaze. "I…I mean, I suspected…" Bianca stammered, "Well now you know," Thalia kept working, efficiently and quickly, "and I know I act like a bitch, and I don't want us to die without telling you how I feel." Bianca felt her face grow red, even though this was not how she pictured this conversation happening. "Thalia, we're not going to die," she began, but Thalia leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. "I love you," she whispered, and Bianca didn't argue any further.

The tent was small, but it held the five of them. Thalia set up the sleeping bags, attaching hers and Bianca' together with a defiant look as if daring anyone to make a comment. No one did. "We'll keep watch in shifts," Jason was slowly starting to take command of the group, but Bianca didn't mind, "I'll take first watch, then Thalia, Clarisse, Bianca, Leo." "Bianca shouldn't be taking a watch," Thalia protested. "Sitting still with a gun? It's about the only thing I am good for," Bianca replied. "We might as well conserve our energy," Thalia sighed, "If the Terrans attack when we're asleep we'd probably be better off just dying without the moments of fear beforehand." Despite Thalia's vote of encouragement, the squaddies crawled into their sleeping bags while Jason stepped outside to keep watch, a pistol in each hand.

Bianca woke up suddenly to Thalia crawling into the bag, her skin cold against Bianca'. "Sorry," Thalia whispered, "I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep." "Why are you so cold? It was so warm earlier," Bianca wrapped both arms around Thalia, shivering as she tried to warm her. "That's what I thought, hence the decision to stand watch in my sleep gear," Thalia whispered, "but it really drops in temperature during the night." She nestled her head under Bianca' chin. The action warmed Bianca in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature, and she haltingly began running her fingers through the other girl's blonde hair. "Mmm that feels nice," Thalia's breath on Bianca' collarbone was making it very hard to fall back to sleep. "I can hear your heartbeat," Thalia murmured, "it's pounding." "How long is Clarisse standing guard before it's my shift?" Bianca asked "Enough time," Thalia said, a smile in her voice. When Bianca looked down questioningly the other girl's lips met hers, cold and firm.

Bianca melted into the kiss, all stresses and worries forgotten for a time. Thalia's mouth opened too eagerly, and Bianca smiled through the kiss. She lifted a leg over the other girl, meaning to climb on top of her, but the action sent a burst of pain through her leg, and she winced, drawing a sudden sharp breath. "Don't," Thalia gently pushed her back down on her back, "just let me." Cold hands ran through her hair as the kiss resumed, Thalia leaning over her and pressing her body against her side. Bianca closed her eyes and relaxed, and Thalia's kisses moved down her neck and over the loose shirt she wore. It was pleasant, the feeling of cold hands roaming up and down, caressing a clothed shoulder, sliding across an arm, lightly scratching against her bare stomach. Even so, Bianca couldn't help but think of how much more she wanted.

As if reading her mind, Thalia lifted Bianca' shirt, pulling it up to her shoulders in one motion, then stripping it off when Bianca rose. The younger girl's hair, faintly shining gold in the dim light of the tent, brushed back and forth across Bianca' naked breasts, and the light touches made her nipples grow hard. "I don't want you to think that I…" Thalia started, her face showing more emotion than Bianca could remember seeing before, "…I don't want you to think I don't care about you. I love you. I love you more than…more than I thought I could love someone." "I love you too Thalia," Bianca murmured, reaching up and running a finger down the side of Thalia's face, brushing a lock of long hair behind an ear. I'd die for you, she thought, but the other woman had bent down, kissing gently between her breasts, then lower on her stomach. Her gold hair disappeared beneath the edge of the sleeping bag, lips pressing lower and lower on Bianca's stomach.

Bianca glanced around the tent as the kisses reached the edge of her panties. The others were all sleeping soundly, most even facing away from them. If they were quiet, it would be alright to relax and enjoy themselves. Just as she made the decision, Thalia slid a finger through the leg of her underwear, tugging it aside as if she couldn't wait to get at what was underneath. Bianca bit her lip to keep from gasping when she felt the tip of a tongue flick across her lips, quick and fleeting. Her fingers clutched at the sleeping bag while she waited for the flicking to continue…but it didn't. She could feel her pulse pounding in her own ears, and much more distracting, she could feel Thalia's warm breath against the exact place it should be going. Bianca ached and bit her lip harder, squirming her hips, and was suddenly rewarded with another lick, long and slow, starting at her mound and moving downward, swirling around her clit, ending just around her entrance.

Again the pause, and Bianca almost whimpered, lifting her hips off the ground. Thalia moved away, keeping her teasing mouth the exact same distance from Bianca' aching pussy. From beneath the fabric Bianca could swear she heard a faint chuckle, and in spite of the torment she grinned. "Bad girl, have you no mercy?" She whispered. She tensed as she felt Thalia lean in again. "No. Mercy. At. All," Thalia responded in a soft whisper, flicking her tongue against Bianca' clit with every word. For long minutes they continued, Thalia teasing, Bianca hating and loving every second of it. Bianca laid in glorious agony while Thalia alternated between lying perfectly still, then suddenly licking, sucking, and flicking her tongue places Bianca wished it would stay. She could feel an orgasm building inside of her, but every time it felt as if she was going to spill over into ecstasy, Thalia would stop, and Bianca would breath a shuddering sigh of mixed disappointment and pleasure. Her legs were shaking, ever so slightly, and she bit down on the edge of the sleeping bag to keep her ragged breathing from becoming too loud.

Finally, Thalia had mercy. This time the assault was unrelenting, her long tongue swirling in patterns up and down, across Bianca' sensitive clit and then back again. Bianca prepared herself for the sudden stop, but instead Thalia slid her tongue inside of her sex, moving the tip up and down. After twenty minutes of teasing, the feeling of Thalia's tongue moving just inside her sex made Bianca cum so hard that her head swam, so hard that she saw stars. Her pussy was on fire, her entire body was shaking, and the pleasure kept going, Thalia kept licking, and every second Bianca felt the other girl's tongue was like another mile of lust unravelling inside of her. Bianca didn't even realize that her back was arched until she collapsed back onto the bed. Her leg throbbed achingly, but in the afterglow of the teasing orgasm she hardly cared. Thalia was gently kissing her thighs and her mound, and it was incredibly soothing.

Bianca was startled when the kisses continued on, the sensation dipping lower to brush against her outer lips. She would've stiffened again, but the bed was suddenly so soft, and the kisses felt so amazing that it was easier to simply lay back and enjoy them. Thalia was more gentle with her tongue this time, slow and steady where before she had been quick and intense. It wasn't teasing, it was like a relaxation gone nuclear. The pleasure wasn't just sexual, it was as if every movement tickled in her core. It was as if Thalia had kept the first orgasm from ever ending, sustaining it into a long note. More mellow but just as intense, when the second orgasm gripped Bianca simply let it wash over her. Her muscles burnt, but to lay still as she felt it roil within her was the hottest thing Bianca had ever felt in her life. "Bad girl," she panted in a whisper, "you are a bad, evil, naughty girlfriend."

She felt her forgotten panties moved back, covering her hypersensitive sex. Thalia's head popped up from beneath the sleeping bag, a half-grin on her face. "We're girlfriends now?" Thalia asked, her tone casual enough that Bianca knew the answer was important. She mentally cursed. "If…if you don't like it we don't have to be," she breathed, "whatever this is, I like it, I don't want to change it. You can ignore what I just said, I talk all clingy after an orgasm like that." "Oh really?" Thalia's fingers pressed suddenly against Bianca' panties, probing through the drenched fabric at an area that still rang with sensation. Despite herself Bianca gasped as Thalia continued, "what if I like you talking like that? Should I keep being mean?" "Oh God I don't know where you learned how to do this but I'll say anything you want," Bianca whispered in an incoherent babble. Thalia's hand slid beneath the hemline, and Bianca spread her legs apart to let the other girl have access. "Say it again," Thalia whispered so softly that Bianca could barely hear her, at the same time slipping a finger inside. "O-oh you're my girlfriend you're my girlfriend," Bianca whimpered, as Thalia made small circling motions inside of her. After two orgasms, it felt as if the blonde girl's finger were made of sex and lightning; every motion sent an almost painful shock of gratification through her body.

"I think like that," Thalia's face was close, her mouth was close, her chin dripping with Bianca' juices. When they kissed Bianca tasted the sweetness of her own fluids and could hardly bear to stop. Another finger joined the first, gently probing and stroking, and Bianca threw her head back silently. Thalia kissed her in the hollow of her neck, and Bianca moaned. "Oh Thalia, Thalia I'm yours, I belong to you," she breathed, and Thalia looked up with the same evil half-grin. Her breath was warm and smelled like sex as she leaned in close and whispered in Bianca' ear; "Cum for me again, my love." Bianca would've orgasmed again even without the third finger that Thalia slid inside of her. Her body was no longer in her control, bucking and shaking as Thalia's fingers pushed deep within her, grinding against her g-spot, penetrating deep, stretching her sex.

It took a few dizzying, disorienting moments before the trembling aftershocks of the orgasm finally faded way, and Bianca looked around to find Thalia grabbing Bianca' sleep pants from where they were sitting by the bed. "These are loose. They'll be a little cold, but you can slip them on over your cast," she whispered. "But what about you?" Bianca panted, "you think I'll let you give me three orgasms like that and not return the favor?" Thalia grinned and held up an arm. On her wrist, glowing faintly under the skin, the clock showed three minutes till the hour. "Almost your shift," Thalia said smugly, wiping Bianca' cum off of her chin, "you'll have to owe me one."

The shift was boring, but time passed faster than it might have with the memory of her orgasms to keep Bianca occupied. Even as she scanned the forest where Terrans could emerge, she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Although she knew the planet's moon would reflect light from its star, she didn't know quite how pretty the reflected light would make everything look; soft and blue and beautiful. Even in this dangerous and frightening place, it was strange how such little things, orgasms and reflected light, could leave her feeling almost…happy. Content, anyways. They had been on the surface for long after the supposed timespan of danger, and they'd managed to avoid the Terrans so far. Maybe they'd continue to avoid them until a rescue party was set down. At the very least, they had survived longer than any planetary ground team had before. Bianca' mind drifted from topic to topic as her gaze slid across the treeline. I'll have to give her four orgasms, next time, she thought, idly running her thumb over the butt of the pistol she held, make her in MY debt. Maybe I could buy a toy, I wonder if she'd like that?

It wasn't quite a twig snapping, or a blur of motion, but Bianca was suddenly sure she wasn't alone. She rose to her feet with a wince, mind racing, resting her weight on one leg. The forest remained still, and she wondered for a moment if she had imagined it…there was no sound or sight that would indicate the forest was any different than it had been a few moments ago. What has me so rattled… Bianca tried to nail it down, even as she held her pistol at the ready. It took a brief rustle of wind through the leaves of the trees for her to connect her intuition to her reasoning; the quiet but steady drone of animal life that had been constant all night was hushed. No insects, no rustling from forest creatures, no call of birds. Bianca was already turning to sound the alarm when she saw the figure emerge from the trees in front of her, a little ways off. Before she could yell, the figure raised both hands and spoke first. "I shall not harm you."

The voice was surprisingly young, and female. Her accent was so thick and strange that Bianca couldn't process her words for a moment, simply staring dumbfounded, pistol pointed at the girl's chest. "I don't want to harm you," the girl repeated, taking another step, carefully and slowly. Bianca was breathing hard, adrenaline pumping through her, but she wasn't sure what action she should take. If this girl was acting alone, shouting an alarm could alert others who weren't so friendly…but what if she wasn't acting alone? The thoughts pounded through her head as the girl took another step. "Stop! Don't come any closer!" Bianca hissed, and the girl tilted her head questioningly, but still stepped forward, into the moonlight. Her hair was a shock of bright green, and the robes she wore were dark enough in color that she could've blended into the background of the forest simply by raising her hood. The thought made Bianca uncomfortable; she wanted to glance around to see if there were others, but kept her eyes locked on the girl, who was looking at her questioningly. "You speak," the girl said falteringly, "but you have strange words." "I said don't come any closer! Stay away!" Understanding bloomed on the girl's face, and she immediately stopped edging forward. "I mean no harm," she said, "I am FRE."

The word was strange and unknown to Bianca, but it seemed to echo inside of her skull, shaking her brain and forcing itself into her mind. She was sure she had never heard the word 'fre' before, but it settled and forced itself into meaning with a feeling that was sudden and unpleasant. fre, friendly. Helpful. Harmless. Won't cause me pain. the words were barely hers, even though they appeared in her mind. Bianca blinked and shook her head. "What was that? What did you just do?" The girl was smiling, smiling in a knowledgeable way that made Bianca' scalp prickle. "I am simply SPE" spe, speaking. Communicating, both verbally and non-verbally. Passing on information. Tears sprang into Bianca' eyes. Hearing the words was like having a swarm of hornets in her brain, as if her very mind were being forcefully impregnated with information. "Stop that! Stop talking like that, whatever you're doing, it bothers me!" Bianca was beginning to panic, her ears were ringing. There was something wrong, something horrifying and unnatural about this girl with the green hair. I should wake the others up… "This is how speech works," the girl replied, her stillness almost as disconcerting as her language, "it's not my fault that it bothers you EX" ex, exiles. Outcasts. Cowards. Forsaken.

It was too much, the words ringing in her head as if some spiteful ghost was screaming the definitions into her mind. She lifted her pistol and squeezed the trigger, the shot ringing out into the night and breaking the silence. The girl seemed to blur and lifted her arm, and Bianca' pistol burst into green flames, scorching her hand before she could think to drop it. "TERRANS!" She shrieked, turning to the tent, but suddenly and impossibly the girl was there, shoving her to the ground. The noises of her squad mates waking up came from the tent, but even as she watched Bianca could see it was useless. She was surrounded by Terrans, robes swirling, different shades of green and purple and blue hair brushing against the tent's door as they rushed inside. Bianca pulled herself to hands and feet, but a rain of green sparks slammed her back into the ground. The girl with green hair was standing over her, watching the tent. As if she felt Bianca looking up at her, she glanced down to meet her gaze. "Till we reach town, none of you will be HA," the girl said reassuringly. ha, harmed. Caused physical hurt. No torture, no pain. "What happens when we reach the town?" Bianca shook her head savagely to clear the buzzing information from her head.

The girl said nothing.


	10. Memorium

**If there's any mistakes, I'll correct them some other time. Just wanted to update for you guys.**

***All rights go to their respectful owners.**

* * *

><p>"We can't leave them Captain, please, we can't leave them behind!" Calypso didn't trust herself to respond to Piper's pleading. She continued her task, working calculations to determine the planet's rotation since they'd landed. Nico sat next to her, doing similar calculations to determine the vectors of the orbitals around the planet. The work was going slowly since the rest of the ground team was refusing to help. "You know that Piper is right Captain," Annabeth backed up her friend, "if the positions were reversed, the others would come for us." "They probably would," Calypso's voice was hoarse, but it didn't waver, "because I'm not there to stop them. I'm with you, and later you'll realize that keeping you from rushing off is saving your life." "Captain," Piper's voice was steady too, Calypso noted with a touch of surprise, "I will knowingly risk my life if there's even the slightest chance of-" "There isn't the slightest chance," Calypso cut her off, flicking the switch to prepare the pod. The open walls around them slowly closed, switching from an open command center to an airtight spaceworthy craft. "The chance of rescue is zero, Piper. I know you don't want to hear that, and believe me, I know how much it hurts, but they're gone. They're done." "Their beacons still show up on scanners. They're not dead."<p>

Calypso kept her back turned to the girl, adjusting the takeoff angles according to her and Nico's calculations. It was hard to think straight, the faces of her rookies floating through her mind, but she knew she was making the right choice. She also knew, vaguely, that she should be supportive for the rookies who were still with her, but she was still too dull with shock to even begin to support someone else. Her voice came out too flat, too blunt. "They are dead. They may've survived the crash, but the Terrans will get to them before we can." "Maybe not. You said the Terrans would find us in a few hours, and they haven't attacked us yet. Maybe the Terrans just aren't coming." "Rookie Dorson," Calypso tried to throw her authority behind her voice, but it just came out tired and worn, "your squadmates have been killed in action. We will miss them, and we will mourn them, but if we do not get this pod off the ground as soon as humanly possible we will join them in death."

Some of Calypso's former students had been killed in planetary runs before, of course. Enough of the Academy's Lieutenant-levels were lost that it would be a miracle if she hadn't. In theory this should've been no different, but Calypso couldn't convince herself of that. Hearing about a KIA former student was different than being on the mission with them. These rookies were under her direct command, and even though there was no way the satflyer's loss of power could be her fault, she felt personally responsible for their deaths. She had been steeling herself since they had broken through the fog, knowing that according to the odds she would either lose some rookies or die herself. Even prepared, it hurt on a level so deep that she found it hard to breath. The loss was somehow so much greater with this squad…not just Leo, but Thalia, Bianca, Jason and Clarisse. All gone. All because she had been so confident in boasting about their abilities. "Fire it up," she said quietly to Nico, "I'll get us in the air." She turned to the flight panel, but was stopped short by the barrel of a pistol.

"I'm sorry, Captain Appet," Piper stood a few feet away, her aim steady, "I can't leave them behind." Calypso stared wearily at the pistol aimed at her chest. At least she's not aiming for the head, she thought, dispassionately, not risking a miss if I suddenly dodge one way or the other. Good form, at least. The other three rookies were watching the situation, silent and still. Calypso noted that they weren't helping her, but she hardly cared. Piper was still talking. "Nico, power the engines down and open the panels-" Calypso moved in a smooth motion, closing the distance between them with a single step, left hand swinging up to grab Piper's gun hand, right hand stabbing forward to jab two fingers into the vulnerable tendons in the girl's wrist. Piper didn't cry out, although she did pale at what Calypso knew was excruciating pain. Typically Calypso would follow up with a vicious elbow to the elbow to snap the bone, or into the throat if she wanted her target incapacitated. This time she refrained, and the pistol was already clattering to the floor. Why bother? Piper would already be unable to move the fingers of her right hand for awhile. Who could even say if the girl was wrong for trying to force her to rescue the rest of the squad?

She moved on to the flight panel without a word, leaving Piper to hold her temporarily ruined wrist as the pod shuddered to life. Through the hum of the engines starting up Calypso could hear her break down into tears. "She was under duress," Annabeth was standing with an arm around Piper, Percy hovering nearby, "please, don't hold this against her…" "Piper wanted to help her squadmates," Calypso said, without emotion, "I can't let her throw our lives away, but I can't fault her for loyalty." "I l-l-love him!" Piper's face had been buried in Annabeth's shoulder as she cried, but she whirled to scream the words at Calypso, "I love him more than anything, more than being alive! If I could trade my life for his I would do it in a heartbeat! You can't understand that kind of love! Not loyalty, love!" Calypso let the girl scream, her face blank. When Piper turned back in a fresh burst of tears, she turned to the window, looking past the surface that fell away.

"I swear I don't usually do this kind of thing on a first date," Rookie Calypso Cripshaw panted, leaning back to break the deep kiss. "I didn't think you did," her date said respectfully, but there was a glint of a grin in his eye. "Patrick! I mean it!" Calypso smacked him on the shoulder, a motion made more bearable by the fact that she was sitting on his lap, straddling him. "Ooh, your boobs jiggle when you're violent, do it again," Patrick teased, leaning forward and planting a kiss between her naked breasts before she could hit him again. "I just want to make it clear that you're lucky, that's all," Calypso leaned back, letting him tease her skin and raise goosebumps along the back of her neck. "Mmm," Patrick agreed in a muffled voice, nuzzling first one, then the other, as his hands slid along the waistband of her pants. He was taking his time, and Calypso was grateful for the fact. She liked the sensations so far, but she wanted to enjoy this little adventure. When he pulled back looked up at her, his expression was so intense that she shivered again. "So if this isn't your normal first date, what is making you behave so delightfully out-of-character then?" He asked, his tone incredibly casual as his fingers followed the curve of her back down beneath her pants. "It's the uniform, probably, I'm a sucker for a guy in uniform" Calypso grinned, lifting ever so slightly to allow his hand to cup her ass. Patrick squeezed and made a low appreciative noise in the back of his throat.

She rose from his lap, smiling at the disappointed look on his face, and took a step back. "I guess it just seemed…like it's the right time, you know?" She gave his question more serious consideration as she shimmied out of her pants. They got caught around her ankles awkwardly, and blushing Calypso stumblingly extracted herself from them as Patrick watched. She kept on talking to try to save face, "I mean my entire life is going to be dedicated to the Academy starting tomorrow, that's the kind of thing that makes a girl think hard about what she's done with her life so far." "Makes sense," Patrick replied thoughtfully, removing his shirt with one smooth motion, his pants with another. Calypso was shocked, first by the rippling muscle that had been hiding beneath the loose clothes, then at the realization of just how easily he had slipped out of them. "You're…really practiced at that," she stammered. "Like you said, girls like the uniform," Patrick's grin was charming and mischievous at the same time, "it's not my first time." "Um…" Calypso took a faltering step forward, then stood in front of him, naked and awkward and uncertain. "It's….it is mine, sort of." Patrick's eyebrows shot up, and he looked her up and down again, as if he was both appreciating her nude body and also trying to discern something about her. "Really?" "Well, that's why I'm doing this. I don't want to go to the Academy a virgin, and you're hot and a pilot, which I really like, and we probably won't be interacting at the Academy much, so there's no risk of drama…sorry, I sound really manipulative right now…" Calypso bit her lip to stop her own babbling.

Patrick reached forward suddenly and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back onto his lap where she straddled him again. "You've put a lot of thought into this," he teased, pulling her forward even further so that her forehead rested against his. "I probably sound pretty crazy," Calypso murmured. She could feel his penis, surprisingly warm, against her thigh, and the feeling made her heart beat quicker. "You don't have to worry about it being super special or anything, I just want to know what it feels like, before my whole life is swept into chaos." "Understandable," Patrick's voice was quiet, "and I like that you're trusting me with your first time. Believe me, doing this with you is special." Calypso blushed harder at his words than at the fact that she sat naked on top of him. Her hands slid across his broad chest, and she tried for a moment to forget about the warmth that was building between her legs. "You don't have to say things like that," she whispered, "I told you, it's fine. I'm awkward and it's my first time so I'm probably going to suck at it, you don't have to pretend." Patrick's hand was around her waist, the other sliding up and down across her stomach. "I assure you," he replied, "there is nothing pretend about this."

His lips pressed against hers, and Calypso relaxed and leaned into the kiss. His hands were so strong, and everywhere they touched seemed to light a brief fire of sensation. He barely touched her where she ached for him, instead grazing in unexpected places and somehow turning them into erogenous zones. His fingers brushed along her shoulders and made them buzz, his touch on her stomach sent tingles into her, and when he brushed his fingertips along her cheekbone and down her neck it made her toes curl. His tongue flicked over hers, and everything was too much, too mean, too intense. Calypso didn't want to cum yet, but he was turning her entire body into a sex organ, and she couldn't stand it any longer. She shifted her position on Patrick's naked lap, moving so that his member pressed between her legs. He seemed surprised that she wanted him so soon, but he grinned, shifting his hips a little so that his head pressed against her opening.

Calypso braced herself, but the shock of penetration didn't come. Instead he began kissing her again, and the onslaught of sensation from his hands continued. It took her a while to realize that he was letting her proceed in her own time, giving her pleasure but letting her decide when she wanted to go ahead. Calypso continued kissing, but let her kisses travel down from Patrick's lips to the side of his neck. She was wet, her pussy throbbed and with each heartbeat she was more and more aware of his hardness pressing against it. As she flicked her tongue over his neck, he made a small feral sound of approval, and the sound was enough to make up her mind. Holding tight to his shoulders, Calypso slammed her hips down, impaling herself on Patrick's cock.

She let out a cry of surprise and pain. In hurt much more than she had expected it to, but it also felt so good that she wasn't quite sure how to process the feeling. Although he had grunted when she pushed down on him, Patrick held absolutely still, watching her with a small smile on his lips. Slowly the pain began to fade, but the feelings of fullness and pleasure hadn't dissipated. Calypso experimentally moved her hips a little, and was rewarded with a flush of ecstasy, a rush of pure sexual pleasure. There was no hesitance after that, she began moving her hips in earnest, moving his length around inside of her body and loving every sensation. His arms were wrapped around her, making her feel safe and warm as she rode him. The sensations pulsing through her wet sex were unique and powerful, building an orgasm up faster than she would've thought possible.

It was like nothing she had felt before. He was stretching her further than her fingers, stretching her so perfectly and filling her so deep. He was warmer than a toy, with his arms around her and his chest pressed against her breasts. He was hotter than a fantasy, with his fingers continuing to stroke and caress in ways that wouldn't even occur to her to fantasize about. She rocked her hips back and forth, gasping as he hit places she hadn't discovered on her own.

Even without experience Calypso could tell when he came. She was surprised at how minutely she could feel the twitches and spasms of his cock, at how sudden and hot it was when he released inside of her. She kept on riding, chasing her own orgasm as she slid up and down him, pain forgotten. Her sensitive pussy felt the second when he started to grow soft inside of her, and she whimpered. No, not yet, I'm so close… Patrick leaned back with a confident grin, reached down, and gently flicked her swollen clit. Calypso threw her head back and sighed as she came, the unique feeling of a cock inside of her making the experience that much better. Even with him growing soft she felt full and satisfied, sitting on top of him shaking and coming, his arm around her waist. When she finally slid back, letting his spent member slide out of her slit, she wore a grin that matched his. "So, about us not interacting at the Academy…" Patrick said. "Well…maybe we could interact a little bit…" Calypso sighed, leaning her head against his strong chest.

Captain Calypso kept her eyes closed, even as she awoke. She made sure to listen the deep breaths, punctuated by occasional shuddering, that indicated Piper was asleep before she opened them. Percy and Annabeth were also asleep, Annabeth's head in Percy's lap, holding hands in their sleep. At the window, Nico stood alert and attentive, looking down at the planet's surface. "What are you doing?" Calypso asked quietly. "Marking out positional data." Nico didn't seem startled, and his eyes never left the window as he answered, "in case the Terrans clear the satflyer away by the time we return, so we'll know where they went down." "Nico I already told you all, we're not-" "Captain, with all due respect." Nico interrupted her, turning eyes towards her that were intense, unblinking. Calypso was startled at that look. Has he always been that intense? "I understand why you gave the order that you did," Nico continued, "You are bound by rules, as are we all. As an Academy trainee I understand that there are correct and incorrect ways of getting what you want. Piper's way was incorrect. When we reach the Academy I plan on forwarding an HCJ report, requesting an official rescue operation under the provisions. All HCJ reports go straight to the General, and since he reccomended our squad for this mission, he's the most likely to approve a rescue." Calypso blinked. "That's very…practical of you, Nico," she said, unsure of how to respond to her Rookie's cool-headedness. "Thank you, Captain." "But there's no way the General will approve a rescue mission. And even if he did, there's no way our air team will survive long enough to be rescued." "Either way, insubordination won't help them, and identifying how to reach them will," Nico replied calmly, "if the official routes won't work, I'll just have to come up with another course of action." Calypso found that vaguely ominous, moreso when it was delivered in Nico's quiet, deadpan voice.

"What exactly is it that your augments do, Nico?" Calypso asked. The only other person she knew who had a CPU in his head was Arthur, and Nico acted very different. He wasn't charming or magnetic, he was simply…solid. Solid and quiet, always unrattled, like a stone. "Didn't your files fill you in Captain?" Nico didn't seem offended or worried. "They just said that you had them, and a little bit about why," Calypso admitted. "Then I would prefer to leave it at that ma'am," Nico turned back to the window. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I got us into all of this, truly. I'm sorry I lost them." "I don't blame you, Captain. None of us do, or at least they won't once they've calmed down. We know you care about us." "Some would say I care about you too much," Calypso half-smiled, then frowned. Not that it matters anymore…now that Leo… She suddenly didn't want to talk about this subject anymore, not when the thought of Leo felt like an emotional punch in the gut. "People care too much about trivial things," Nico seemed thoughtful, "it's not as if we're all children. Only busybodies think sleeping with your rookies is inappropriate." "I suppose," Calypso said briefly.

"Sleeping with your rookies is completely inappropriate!" Calypso Cripshaw squeaked in dismay. She squeaked quietly, even though the room they were in was completely deserted, as if the walls themselves would spread rumors. "Why is it suddenly inappropriate?" Lieutenant Patrick Appet grinned, "has something changed between now and say, a week ago?" "I didn't know you would be my instructor a week ago!" Calypso tried to lower her voice, but it still came out a squeak, "you didn't tell me, you asshole!" "Hey, that's not fair," Patrick grew uncharacteristically serious for a moment, "they didn't even tell me I'd be teaching a rookie class until I got back to the orbital; apparently they didn't have enough free captains. And for the record, I didn't get my class roster until the evening before the ceremony. I found out a whole twenty four hours before you did." "Oh…" a little of the righteous anger retreated from Calypso, leaving her able to speak without squeaking, "…well I…retract the asshole comment then, I suppose." "Excellent." "But we still can't have sex!" "Why is that? Are you a virgin?" Patrick teased, stepping forward, and Calypso skittered backward, away from him. "You're still my instructor! It's not appropriate!"

He searched her face, as if only just now realizing she was serious. When he seemed to have convinced himself, he looked a tad disappointed, but he shrugged. "Alright then, I suppose. You're missing out," he winked, "but you're allowed your reasoning." "I know I'm missing out," Calypso said, fuck do I know it… "but I just wouldn't feel right about it. Not with you as my instructor." "I won't pressure you then," Patrick reached out and chucked her under the chin affectionately, "even if you're being a naive moron." "I'm sorry," Calypso really was, "being with you is fun…a lot of fun. But right now, I'm not comfortable being anything but friends." "I'll take friends," Patrick smiled, already opening the door of the empty room. "And I swear," Calypso added mischieviously, "the day I graduate and you're no longer my instructor, I'm hunting you down and fucking your brains out." "I'm totally holding you to that, Rooke Cripshaw."

Calypso barely even noticed when the pod broke through the green fog. It was the second time she had seen the windows suddenly clear, evil fog changing to beautiful stars. It was the second time she hadn't been in the mood to appreciate the sight.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Center stood unsteadily, one foot on the chair, the other planted firmly in the middle of the table. His shout had garnered attention from the entire mess hall, and he drunkenly smiled at the upturned faces around him. "Today, my squad an' I have hic, 'scuse me, graduated to Lieutenant-level!" Even the strangers at the mess joined them in a cheer, a celebratory shout that echoed off the walls of the room. Center clearly had more to say, but his squaddies pulled him back down before he could use up the room's collective patience. "Lieutenant Center, you are drunk," Calypso laughed, grabbing his drink from him as he groped for it. "I think we've all earned a good drunkening, Lieutenant Cripshaw ma'am," Center pulled off a perfect salute that melted into a awkward muddle at the end, sending the whole squad into laughter. "He's got a point Lieutenant," Lily grinned, lifting her hand to indicate another round of drinks. "This 'calling each other Lieutenant' crap is gonna get old real fast, knock it off," Patrick growled good naturedly. "Aw c'mon Patrick," Jack-pip elbowed him, "do you know how fuckin' miserable those exams were? We worked our asses off for the right to call each other Lieutenant." "And anyways, we're Lieutenants too now! You no longer outrack us, squaddie" Calypso teased. The rest of the squadmates burst into laughter again, and for the rest of the meal took great delight in refusing him every time he asked for a chip or another drink. The squaddies chatted and talked long past the mess hall's normal closing hours, until one by one they wandered off towards the barracks, going to sleep early in preparation for the big day tomorrow.

"How long we known each other now, Rook?" Patrick asked thoughtfully, after Acren had left, leaving the only Calypso and him alone at the table.. "Come on Patrick, when are you gonna stop calling me that?" Calypso whined, "it's been two years since I was a rookie." "I've been your teacher for those two years, I'm allowed," Patrick puffed up his chest, "I can call you whippersnappers whatever the hell I want." He grew serious again,"but listen Calypso. We've gotten close, over these years, yea? It's not just me who feels it?" "Course it's not just you," the serious tone was sobering, and she didn't like it, "what kinda question is that? You're my best friend, you know that. What's the deal with you this evening?" "I know that. And you're the best friend I have Calypso-" "Your only friend," Calypso muttered, but Patrick made an impatient motion as if brushing her smartass comment aside. "I just think…things can be different, now that I'm your teammate instead of your instructor. Can't they?" "Patrick," Calypso rolled her eyes, "if this is about my promise to fuck you when you weren't my instructor anymore, you don't need to worry, I haven't forgotten. I mean, if you're still interested…" "Need I remind you that you're the one who's been forcing us to wait this long. I would've dropped my pants for you the first day." Patrick grinned, but he still seemed hesitant.

"What?" Calypso asked. She was starting to get worried, self-conscious, "you do still want me too, don't you? Or has getting to know me better soured your feelings about me?" "What? No!" Patrick seemed startled, "the opposite, actually. The more I get to know you, the more I enjoy your company." "Then what's the problem?" "I'm just interested in more with you. More than just the fucking." Calypso blinked, trying to gauge if he was being serious. "What do you mean…'more' like dating?" Patrick spread his hands in response, clearly waiting to see what she thought of the idea. Calypso sat stunned for a moment, hope and disbelief warring inside her. Before the academy Patrick had simply been a hot guy in a uniform, someone convenient. In the first year with him as her instructor she had developed a schoolgirl crush, one that she only resisted because, true to his word, Lieutenant Appet had never made another advance to her. In the second year, Pilot Cripshaw's crush had matured into a fierce loyalty and friendship, a relationship somewhat deeper but plagued by sexual tension. She knew he saw her as a good friend, and she was fairly sure that he looked forward to their promised fucking almost as much as she did…but that he felt the same affection about her had never crossed her mind.

"I think…" Calypso said slowly, "that that would be alright." The grin that broke across his face was instant, warming her from the inside out. "Just as an experiment, to see how it works out," she warned, "I'm sure I'll fuck it up eventually, so be prepared for that." "Oh I'm sure you will," Patrick teased. In spite of herself, Calypso grinned back at him. The warm feeling wasn't going away…there he was, her schoolgirl crush, her hero, her first, and he looked as happy about having her as she had ever seen him before. Not to mention how fucking hot he is… Calypso mentally added. The warmth in her heart was spreading to other areas…areas that needed his attention. "So…how about that fuck?" she cut straight to the point, not bothering with coyness or subtlety. "Believe me when I say how much I want it," Patrick chuckled, "but we've got a planetary to run and not a lot of time to sleep for it. We've waited this long, let's give it one more night." Calypso wanted to argue, but it was her first planetary. She would need to be at the top of her game tomorrow. "One more night," she growled, rising from the table, "after that I'm coming for you, Appet." "Oh you definitely will be," Patrick grinned. Shocked that she had left him with such a clear opening, Calypso turned up her nose and walked away with a sniff.

"Attention temp pod, this is Pilot Gammon, we are within range and ready to latch tow lines," the comm crackled. The others were awake, and Captain Appet could feel their eyes on her as she walked across the small pod to reach the comms. "Roger that Pilot Gammon," she said without feeling, "bracing for impact." The pod shuddered as the towlines his, and the entire room jerked as Gammon began pulling them towards the orbital. Calypso held onto the desk, staring blankly at the dull lights to avoid turning and meeting the gaze of Percy , Annabeth, Piper and Nico. Her four surviving rookies. Pulsing blue indicators on the dash showed that the others were technically still alive, somewhere, or at least alive enough that their bodies were still powering their subdermal computers. Calypso turned her back on the display. She would rather meet the others' gaze than be watching when the lights went out. None of the rookies met her eyes. They're never going to forgive me, Jan realized, hell, I can't even say that I blame them.

"GET INTO THE FUCKING POD," Calypso shrieked, her fingers hovering over the red button, eyes wide with horror. Lily stumbled as she ran down the hill towards the ground team's temp pod, but miraculously was able to turn the stumble into a roll. To Calypso's left, Arthur was taking shots at the Terrans whenever they showed themselves from behind the trees, but the blue-haired combatants were using some kind of shielding; sending the shots wide or absorbing them. Lily lost her footing yet again, which saved her life as a gout of blue flame flew past where she had been standing a moment ago. With a final burst of speed, Lily threw herself into the pod, and Calypso slammed the button down.

Arthur continued suppressive fire until the walls of the ground pod closed completely, while Calypso flicked the switches to set the engines began spinning. The pod shook as it slowly rose from the ground, hammered from the outside by blue fire, but the damage wasn't enough to keep them from taking off. Calypso glanced around the room, confirming that Arthur and Lily were safely inside as the pod rose slowly into the air. "It's alright, we're all inside, we're all okay," Arthur said soothingly, reading her distress with the help of the CPU in his head. Calypso slumped to the ground, shaking. "They came so fast!" She said with a shuddering breath, "how did they find us so fast?" "Ground team come in, are you safe?" Patrick's voice sounded strained on the comms. "We're safe, just took off," Lily gasped, holding her side, "everyone accounted for, we'll hit the fog layer and be away in a few minutes. How about you?" "We're…we're not doing too well." Calypso identified a tone that she had missed the first time and sprang to the window. With the rising motion of the pod, Calypso had to scan the sky for a moment before she caught sight of the satflyer.

There were creatures swarming the satflyer. Though they were hard to make out at distance, Calypso thought she could count about six or seven of them. They flitted back and forth, first hovering, then moving quickly in sharp, straight angles of flight. The satflyer's guns were firing off in brief but constant bursts of fire, seeming more focused on keeping the creatures at bay than at hitting them. "Air team this is ground team," Calypso could hear Lily trying to keep calm, "we're away! Get out of there!" "Roger that ground team," even as Patrick's voice sounded over the comms, escape pods began firing out from the top of the satflyer, leaving long columns of smoke in their wake. Calypso counted them as they flew up into the fog. …two…three… "Everyone's out!" Lily was no longer using proper transmission protocols, but no one cared. They were all transfixed by the sight of the satflyer, and by the tiny specks that were attacking it. "Patrick, take off! Everyone's safe!" Lily's voice had risen to a high pitch.

"We're not safe," Calypso said quietly, with horror. The temporary pod had risen quite a ways before the creatures noticed it, but now they were beginning to group up into two separate swarms. Four of them continued harassing the satflyer, swooping in close and then ducking back in the air when the guns opened fire. The second group of four had swung around, and were heading towards the ground pod. "They know we don't have weapons," Calypso realized aloud. The pod had grown deathly silent. "Patrick, those…things are coming at us," Lily said, her voice grim, "they know we can't keep them away." "Copy that, ground team. How much longer before you hit the fog?" "…one and a half minutes." Too long, Calypso felt herself slipping into a strange sort of morbid calm. The creatures would reach the defenseless ground pod before they hit the fog.

The flying things were close enough that Calypso could see their features now. They were naked women, or at least partly so. Their arms were warped and twisted, forming wide feathered wings. At the knee their skin became tough and leathery, ending in three-toed claws. Their mouths were a little too big to seem human, their eyes a little too wild. Although she'd never seen a Harp in person, Calypso had heard enough to know what they were capable of. "Ground team…" Patrick paused for a moment. He'd better finish his sentence quick, Calypso thought dully, it won't take the Harps long to rip through the walls once they get to us. "…listen, Arthur, you know me better than anyone, with your chip. You know what I'd have to say." "Don't you fucking dare," Arthur roared into the comm, but Patrick was still talking, his speech rushed now. "Lily, that thing we talked about last week? The answer is yes, of course yes. You've always been strong enough, and I've always known that." Calypso looked confusedly back and forth between her squaddies. Arthur looked furious, Lily's eyes were watering. Why is he bothering to tell us things like this now? she wondered, why does it matter when he knows we're about to die? "And Calypso…listen," she had never heard him sound so deadly serious, which was appropriate, she supposed, "it would've worked. You weren't some experiment to me. It would've worked all the way to the end, all the way until you were Mrs. Lieutenant Appet."

The full realization of what he was about to do hit Calypso just as the first shots grazed the pod. The Harps that were attacking them were caught completely off-guard; Calypso could see the shocked expression on the face of one as it was blown away. The other three spun, trying to dodge and spin out of the way of the barrage that the satflyer was firing. A second Harp was blown out of the sky, and the other two broke off, spinning in quick dives towards the surface to escape. Calypso's attention wasn't on them, it was on the satflyer itself. As soon as the guns had turned to assist the temp pod, the first group of Harps had swung in, using sharp claws and oversized tough teeth to rip away strips and bites of metal from its sides.

Calypso couldn't cry, couldn't look away, as the specks disappeared from sight, crawling through the holes and into the satflyer. The windows of the pod were suddenly obscured, covered by roiling green fog. "P-Patrick no," she gasped, "no no no no." Her mind seemed fractured somehow, broken into pieces that refused to carry a thought from beginning to completion. "Patrick no," if she said it enough times, it wouldn't be true, "no, I love you, no" The comm crackled, his voice staticky through the distortion of the fog. "I love you too Calypso."

The screams only filled the radio for a few seconds before she slammed her hand down on the switch, shutting it off. She wasn't sure when it stopped and when it was replaced with her own screaming. In one of the fractured pieces of her mind she thought his scream might never stop.

Captain Appet tried to ignore the ten-year-old scream, as fresh in her memory as if she had heard it a few seconds ago, as the doors of the pod hissed open. Behind her Percy and Annabeth stood on either side of Piper, Nico a little ways off but still clearly supporting the group. Calypso was grateful for that, at least. Knowing that the rookies would be able to lean on each other took a small portion of the weight off of her mind. She realized with a start that the door was open, and the hangar in front of them was relatively packed with people. They don't know, Calypso realized, none of them know yet. It seemed perverse, that such a horrible thing had happened and these people didn't know about it.

Her eyes wandered over the assembled people for a few moments. Her old team were there, Lily, Arthur, Jake-pip and Center. Arthur was frowning, stepping forward; he had already read the entire mission on her face. There were several teams of scrub, some Captains and Lieutenants. There was a healthy portion of Rookies there as well. Do my rooks have friends in their year? she thought with surprised. General Auspus was directly in front of the pod, one eyebrow raised in a question. Calypso cleared her throat, and spoke to the entire group. She already knew the words, Lily had spoken them when she, Arthur, and Calypso returned from their last planetary run.

"There was trouble on the mission. We're the only survivors."


	11. Focus

***All rights go to their respectful owners**

* * *

><p>Inside of Nico's head, a small reminder alert pinged, and he took a breath. The ping was vaguely musical, and for the nanosecond it lasted Nico enjoyed and appreciated the fact that he had a snapshot of music that only he could enjoy. The breath ended and he returned his focus to the problem at hand.<p>

Very occasionally Nico would wonder what it would be like to have a normal human brain. He would probably be lazy, perhaps absentminded, maybe talkative. Perhaps he might've even had a say in how his personality developed. His mother had taken that choice away from him with her extensive use of cocaine and critz and alcohol. When he was born his mind was so malformed there were only two options; augmentation or no augmentation. Without a CPU he would be a ward of Orbital Minera, his brain running a single function where a normal human could handle several, barely classifiable as alive much less intelligent. So really, the social worker hadn't had a choice either, giving the techs and medics permission to use him as a test case for their latest augmentations.

The alert pinged, and Nico took a breath. There were a lot of items stored in his long-term harddrive, but the currently focused goal was to get food. In theory he could switch goals, thumbing through the items in his mental to-do list, but choosing a different goal wouldn't help him obtain food, so he dismissed the thought. If he ever bothered to inform them, the techs would probably be embarrassed about that serious flaw in their design. A chip designed to force his single-function-brain into achieving a goal wouldn't ever allow him to willingly choose a different one. The only time a goal changed was due to outside factors, like someone talking, or a change in the environment.

Nico stepped down from the pod's ramp, absentmindedly helping Piper and Annabeth off as well. The crowd parted for him as he made his way towards the doorway leading to the mess hall. They think I'm mourning my fallen comrades, the information registered to him, but he couldn't empathize with it. What possible use could moaning and wailing have in accomplishing any of his goals? Of course, they're important, Nico admitted, mentally scrolling through his tasks to make sure goal 11125 still had a high priority, but who can spend so much time not doing something?

He had reached the mess and was filling a plate when the goal priorities shifted with a click, goal 87546 stashing away like a satisfying piece in his mind's puzzle as soon as he successfully acquired food. While he looked for a table, he enjoyed the leisurely process of flipping through his tasks to select his next goal. Goal 11125 was one of the highest priorities at the moment, since the sooner he mounted a rescue attempt the more likely it would be to succeed. That one will have to be divided into several subgoals though… He set his tray down and browsed through for smaller goals that he could quickly complete before tackling that one, pausing only to breath when the alert ping reminded him.

"Nico!" Even in the crowded and bustling mess hall Nico recognized Demeter's voice; it was one of the most attractive things about her. It was silvery and light, almost musical. Like the breathing alert, he realized, I wonder if that's why I like it so much. Her voice was concerned now, and he liked the thought that she worried about him. Deeper, more instinctual feelings stirred in him at the sound of her voice, and goal 71609 slid upward in priority by several places. Part of him was slightly ashamed as he selected it, that he was prioritizing such a animalistic goal over saving his squadmates, but it had been a few weeks since he'd last satisfied those urges, and he always planned better when they were satisfied.

He almost winced when he turned. Just behind Demeter, Eris was also approaching, glancing at the other girl with confusion. A guy just can't catch a break around here, Nico mentally sighed, as the CPU in his head whirred with the incoming data. His goal split into subgoals in a picosecond, and he immediately felt disoriented until he could translate them into words. Seeing the two girls next to each other highlighted their differences and brought them into sharp contrast. Demeter had clearly just come from the hangars, since her face was still smudged with carbon stains and engine grease. Her red hair was tied back with a piece of black ribbon, and Nico spared a moment to appreciate the single strand that had fallen out of the tie. Eris had also clearly come from the hangars as well, but her work was far more clerical. Smooth unblemished skin and soft hands set her about as far apart from Demeter as she could be, but with the proximity Nico realized that the ringlets around her face were almost the exact same shade of red. I guess I have a type after all, he pondered, cute red-haired scrubs. The alert ping reminded him to breath, and refocused him on the task at hand. Right. Don't want to end things with Demeter. Don't want to end things with Sam. Don't want to lie to either. You can never give me a simple goal, can you? Nico scolded the chip. On the next ping, he took an extra deep breath.

"Demeter! Sam!" he gave a small smile and stepped forward, putting one arm around Sam's waist and using the other hand to pull Demeter forward. He kissed Demeter on the forehead, Sam on the cheek, and then turned back to the table, "Fuck have I missed you! Come on and join me, please!" He indicated the empty seats at his table, smoothly sitting and hoping the ice in his stomach wouldn't show on his face. To his relief, both girls sat, though both now looked unsure of themselves. "I heard about your planetary," Eris said cautiously, breaking the slightly awkward silence, "Nico I'm so sorry." "They're not dead yet," Nico began eating as he spoke, "their beacons are still lit." "Nico…" Demeter reached across the table to place a comforting hand on his, an action that Nico noticed made Eris frown. "It's okay, I'm not in denial or anything," Nico chewed thoughtfully, trying to decide how he would handle his current goal, "if their beacons go out I'll deal with it at that point, but until then there's still hope."

Eris opened her mouth, and the highest priority goal demanded that he interrupt her. If he could stop them from addressing the elephant in the room, there was a chance that he could simply keep them both by pure inertia. Both girls were a little off-balance, and the chip was telling him to keep them that way. Instead he kept quiet, letting her speak. He knew it was his imagination, but he sometimes felt like he could hear his CPU screaming and grinding as he ignored the route that would technically work the best, but he would much rather opt for open communication than for manipulating his way to his goals. "Nico, I know this probably isn't the best time," Eris said, unaware of the conflict in Nico's CPU, "but…who is this?" "I'm sorry, that's rude of me," Nico apologized, "Sam, this is Demeter, she works in fuel processing. Cyn, Eris, she's in ship transfer admin." He took another bite as he waited for the inevitable follow-up questions. Demeter's hand was still on his, which was a good sign, and he idly ran a thumb back and forth over it as the girls exchanged glances. "Pleased to meet you," Demeter murmured, looking at Nico instead of Eris with narrowed eyes, but a half smile playing around the corner of her lips.

"Likewise," Eris sounded unsure of herself, and Nico's CPU informed him that his chances of goal completion would increase vastly if he simply played to her unsureness. "You two are my two best friends on the entire orbital…" Nico continued. The techs told him the chip couldn't actually form commands, that it simply allowed him to focus better, but he could swear he heard it talking to him; "Confuse her! You're so close if you can just keep her on her toes! Lie!" "…and in answer to the question neither of you are asking, yes, I'm sleeping with both of you." Nico powered through the chip's instructions.

Eris's mouth dropped open in surprise. Demeter folded her arms and leaned back, but she was grinning. "The balls on this one," she chuckled. "You…you're just going to say that? Just admit it to both of us?" Eris spluttered. "Course, why not?" Nico took another bite, "it wouldn't be very nice to hide that information would it?" "But it's 'nice' to sleep with both of us at the same time?" Eris almost exploded. Nico shrugged, "I suppose I didn't assume we were exclusive," he said, "that's why I didn't mind you banging your co-worker on the side." Eris blushed bright red, and Demeter threw her head back and laughed aloud. She not only didn't realize I knew… But she also thought we were exclusive at the time? Nico considered whether or not to be offended, and finally shrugged it off. "I didn't…I wasn't…" Eris stammered. She turned to Demeter, no doubt hoping to find someone to back her up, "and you're okay with this? With him just going back and forth between the two of us?" "I never made an assumption about what we were," Demeter raised both hands, "Nico's fun to talk to and he's a good lay, we never put expectations on each other beyond that. Although," she reached forward and grabbed Nico's spoon, pointing it menacingly at Nico, "last month when I needed help cleaning the capacity core on your cruiser, and you said 'oh I've got physical training to catch up on', I swear to god if you blew me off to get some action from her…"

Nico grinned, "Actual PT, I swear," he said, truthfully, "I like to think I'm a little more respectful than ditching one of you for the other." Demeter used the spoon to steal a bite of chocolate paste from his plate, and he didn't stop her. Eris seemed completely out of her element and bewildered, but she wasn't leaving. His CPU stopped screaming at him, and he felt his shoulders imperceptibly relax. "I guess it's just…different…to me," Eris finally mumbled, "I'm not used to this kind of situation. It seems weird." "Weirder than when you thought you were both cheating on each other?" Demeter asked brightly around a mouthful of chocolate. Eris blushed again. "You'll have your hands full if you get with these admin types Nico," Demeter grinned, "full of strange expectations." "No call for that kind of talk Cyn," Nico broke in before Eris could respond, "Sam's a fine lady, and alongside you she's one of the people I care about most on this station." "You're right, that was uncalled for," Demeter agreed, "I'm sorry Eris." "I'm not a prude or anything," Eris said defensively, "I just don't like the thought of sharing Nico back and forth." "Well…" Nico said thoughtfully, carefully, "if that's the way you feel, we don't have to do this back and forth."

Eris looked at him uncomprehending, but Demeter clearly saw what he was implying almost instantly. "Nico Carter Rade," she leaned back in her chair, fixing Nico with a stare that was halfway between incredulous and impressed, "let me get this straight. Your two girlfriends meet each other, and even though you managed to stretch your luck enough to avoid a major blowout, you now think you're smooth enough to turn the situation into a threesome?" Nico carefully finished his last bite, considering how to answer. In the end, he opted for honesty. "Yep," he said. Demeter and Eris looked back and forth between him and each other. Nico had to admit that the stunned looks on their faces was amusing enough to be worth whatever answer he got. "Well, say what you will about him, the boy's got stones," Demeter finally said. Eris was opening and closing her mouth like a fish, but she finally managed to stutter, "What…what…..what?"

Nico tried to gather his thoughts for a whole several alert pings. His head was beginning to hurt from the strain of the CPU, and he was painfully aware that several goals were slowly creeping higher in his priority list. He looked up to meet the eyes of the two girls. "Look, I've had…the most hellish few days I can ever remember," he admitted, "I've just about fried my brain by keeping it running too hot for the past few days, because there's just too many tasks to get done. I've got another rough patch coming up, so right now, in this brief bit of quiet before the storm, I'd really like to do something that will let me relax and forget about all the shit that has come before and is coming up." He shrugged, "I meant what I said earlier. You two are my closest and best friends here, and I'm really glad we still have that," he raised his eyebrows to make it a question, and was relieved when both girls nodded. "I like having you for friends, that would be true even if you both weren't as good in bed as you are. I mean…damnit I'm normally smoother than this…" The sound of gears grinding in his head was makinh it ache. The chip doesn't even have fucking gears, he mentally grumbled, rubbing his temples. "Aw, honey," Demeter said sympathetically, standing and rounding the table to give him a hug. She took his hand and pulled him up from his seat, turning and moving toward the door. "Come on," she said over her shoulder, and Eris rose with a confused look. "Where…what are you doing?" she asked. "I'm gonna help this fuckin' idiot relax," Demeter replied with a smirk, "and you're going to help me."

Demeter's room wasn't far from the mess hall, within easy access of the hangar. As a "scrub", one of the valuable mechanics on the Orbital, she had the luxury of a private room. Nico smiled wearily as he stepped inside. Though it was slightly cramped, a single large room and adjoining bathroom, Demeter had made it her own. Small gears and wires, twisted into pieces of art, decorated the walls, and hand-made blankets and quilts lined anything that could be used as a bed or seat. The entire effect was one of instant comfort and coziness, an effect that Demeter herself had on Nico. Eris looked around the room curiously as Demeter pulled Nico towards her strange bed that sat in the corner, made up of a pile of layered blankets and pillows as high as her waist.

"This place is…really nice," Eris sounded surprised, "comfortable." "What better place to comfort someone?" Demeter untied the fastenings on her rough mechanics jacket, shrugging it off and tossing it in a corner. She always seemed at ease, but Nico noticed she was a little more herself when she was in her room. "Um…about that…" Eris was blushing, looking down at her feet. "You don't have to do this, Sam," Nico watched her face carefully, looking for signs of hesitation. It didn't matter how helpful his CPU could've been in convincing her; if she wasn't willing to do this, he had no desire to force her. "No," Eris seemed startled, "no, that's not it at all, I really do, it's just I…I don't know how."

Nico shot a look at Demeter, hoping she wouldn't make fun of Eris's embarrassment, but the mechanic was looking at her kindly, almost affectionately. "It's not so hard," Demeter smiled, reaching out and hooking a hand around Eris's neck. Eris blushed harder, but Demeter gently steered her towards the bed where Nico was sitting, "do you like kissing our jerk of a boy here?" "Yes," Eris answered hesitantly, and Demeter gently pushed Eris's head forward to meet Nico's lips. Nico held the moment in his mind as the kiss deepened. It felt like so long since he had touched her, touched either of them, and he wanted to savor the sensation of every moment. Eris's kiss tasted like strawberries, and her tongue darted playfully across his lips. He ran his fingers through her bright red curls as he lay back on the bed, pulling her with him.

"Good," he heard Demeter say approvingly. As if encouraged by the other girl's approval, Eris straddled Nico, sitting on his upper stomach and bending down to keep on kissing him. "Now," Demeter murmured, and Nico vaguely registered the sound of clothing hitting the floor, "we'll see if you're a good enough kisser to keep his attention during what I'm about to do." She is a very good kisser, Nico mused, as Eris gently tugged at his lower lip with her teeth, but I have an idea about what Demeter is going to do… As if on cue Demeter's fingers deftly unfastened his pants with a practiced ease. Eris broke the kiss, panting, to turn and watch as Demeter pulled his pants off and threw them into the growing stack of clothes by the bed. "You're wearing too much," Demeter said. Eris was blocking Nico's view of her face, but whatever expression Demeter was wearing must've been enough to allay Eris's reservations.

Eris slowly slipped her shirt over her head just as Demeter wrapped warm nimble fingers around Nico's shaft. The combination of Demeter's fingers and the sight of Eris's breasts dropping free was enough to make Nico's hips involuntarily buck, and Eris giggled she almost fell off of him. He couldn't see what Demeter was doing, which made each touch unexpected. Instead he was treated to Eris's large boobs hanging over his face as she leaned down again to pull his shirt off. He didn't mind in the slightest. Her strawberry-flavored kisses resumed again, keeping his attention as she made complicated motions to remove her own pants.

Sudden warmth and wetness around the head of his member informed him that Demeter had started using her tongue, and Nico dug his nails into Eris's naked back at the feeling. Eris was rocking her hips back and forth, grinding her sex against his stomach while she kissed him and clearly enjoying his nails. He could feel how wet she was growing, and the heat of her cunt pressed against his body felt almost as good as Demeter's tongue, which was sliding up and down his shaft at a steady, maddening pace. "God," Eris broke the kiss again with a gasp, turning to look back at Demeter, "I want him," she panted, "I need it, please?" "Mmm I can see what you see in this one Nico," Demeter purred, "she begs so prettily."

Eris squeaked as Demeter's arms wrapped around her, squeezing her generous breasts and then yanking her backward onto the bed. Nico leaned forward as Demeter stood, both looking down at the naked woman as she blushed furiously. Nico let his gaze travel back and forth between the two of them, appreciating the uniqueness of their bodies. Demeter's breasts were quite small compared to Eris's, but her body was harder, rougher. The smudges of oil and dirt made patterns on Demeter's skin that showed exactly where the lines of her clothes had been, and where there was no dirt her freckles showed clearly, speckling her cheeks and tiny breasts. Eris's mound was smooth, while Demeter had a patch of flame-red hair between her legs. Like night and day, these two, Nico mused, so how are they both so hot? "I'm feeling very self-conscious right now," Eris murmured under their stares. "Nico, for god's sake fuck the poor thing before she bursts into flames," Demeter laughed, hopping lightly up onto the bed. She straddled Eris, scooting back so that her pussy was rubbing against the other girl's mound and leaning forward. "Is this alright?" Nico could hear Demeter murmur, and the girl beneath her nodded.

Eris squirmed as soon as Nico touched her, sliding a finger up and down across her slit. Demeter's small ass moved in the air as she rubbed her clit against the her, and for a moment Nico was mesmerized at the sight of the two perfect pussies so close together, both pink and wet and inviting. The scent of their juices mingled and combined into a heady aroma that sent shocks of lust through him even as he looked. "Eris's too embarrassed to say it," Demeter grinned over her shoulder, "but she would very much like your cock inside of her now." Her words snapped Nico out of his trance, and without further hesitation he positioned his member at Eris's opening and thrust inside. Eris threw her head back on the bed and gave a long moan, cut off almost instantly by Demeter's tongue. The sight of Demeter kissing her made Nico so hard it almost hurt, and he struggled to keep a steady pace as he slammed into Eris over and over again. Even through the kiss he could hear her moaning, and the sound drove him to push into her even harder.

Nico pulled out completely, moving his hips so that when he next thrust forward his cock slid inside of Demeter's waiting cunt. His breath was coming out ragged as he thrust faster and faster, first slamming into Demeter then switching back to Eris. Even their pussies were different, gripping his member in different ways, and he couldn't tell which he liked more. He was already feeling the orgasm building in him when Demeter came, her sex clamping down and quivering around his length as her whole body shook. Eris murmured something in the other girl's ear, and whatever it was it made Demeter cum even harder. The tightness around him was bringing him close, and without thinking he pulled his member out and slid it between the bodies of the two girls.

Both of them obligingly rubbed against him, sliding their mounds and clits over his wet cock. The stimulation was enough to send Nico over the edge, moaning as he came. Neither girl stopped their rocking grinding, and the sticky wet contact made his orgasm last longer than any he could ever remember. He grabbed Demeter's ass and Eris's thigh as he shot his load between their bodies, his mind blanking out at the pleasure.

Nico leaned back with a sigh, catching his breath, as Demeter sit up. Eris's hips were still rocking as if against her will, and a slight whimper escaped her lips. "Oh you poor thing!" Demeter murmured, "we had all the fun and left you frustrated! Let me help you with that." Nico watched with a smile as Demeter moved downward, burying her face between Eris's legs. If Eris had any more reservations they were gone now; she reached down to run her fingers through the other girl's hair as Demeter worked her magic with her tongue.

Nico's eyes drooped, and he yawned. Even as he enjoyed the sight of his two girls playing with each other, the CPU in his head flipped through his goals without being directed. Goal 72999 was selected and locked in. Nico was surprised, but shrugged…it had been nearly 48 hours since he had last slept. He settled back as Eris started moaning again, watching the pair with a smile. Demeter had started to play with herself as she ate Eris out, Nico's cum dripping off of her stomach to land on her wrist as her fingers slowly slid in and out of her own pussy. With the explicit scene in front of him, Nico closed his eyes…

Nico was told that he slept differently than other people, the process more akin to defragging a computer than typical sleep. He didn't really know how it compared, but he knew he felt refreshed in every way after sleeping. It felt like only an instant later that he opened his eyes, mind fresh and sharp. Demeter was asleep on his right, her red hair mussed and spread over his shoulder. Eris lay on his left, awake, dragging a finger back and forth across his chest and looking pensive. "Something wrong?" He asked quietly, taking advantage of the brief moments he could focus on everything around him as he mentally flicked through his tasks. "That was…a lot nicer than I thought it would be," she replied thoughtfully, "I thought it was going to be all nasty and kinky and a little gross but it was…I dunno, more tender. She's sweet," she nodded at the sleeping girl on his other arm. "I think so too," Nico replied. Goal 11125 clicked into place, and Nico sighed when the alert ping reminded him to breath. "I think I like this. It's better than with Aaron. The co-worker," she clarified at Nico's questioning glance. "You don't have to give him up you know," Nico assured her, "I was serious about that. We don't have to be monogamous." "I just…I think I want to do this all the time," Eris said carefully, "Just the three of us. Not monogamous but…tri-nogamous." "I think I would like that too," Nico smiled, sitting up. It was what the CPU told him to say, but happily it was also the truth, "we should talk about it, the three of us." "Where are you going?" "I have to save my squadmates." "Is there anything I can do to help?" The offer was made without hesitation or reluctance, and Nico smiled at her. "As a matter of fact, there is."

The conference room was small, but even so the empty seats were clearly gnawing at his squadmates' minds. They all sat at one end, Nico at the head of the table, Piper, Annabeth and Percy on his left, Demeter and Eris on his right. "I should start by letting you all know that what I'm going to propose is probably stupid and definitely dangerous," Nico didn't mince words. "You two," he indicated Demeter and Eris, "could lose your jobs. The four of us," he indicated his squadmates, "could be killed." "We're going down to rescue them," Piper murmured. Nico was gratified to see the hope spring so instantly into her eyes. One recruit accounted for already, he thought. "We are. There's more to it than that, but yes, we're getting them back." "Nico, Piper," Annabeth began, awkwardly, "you know we want to get them back too, but even Captain Appet won't let us go, let alone the people we actually need clearance from." "No, they wouldn't," Nico agreed, "which is why we're not going to clear it."

Before the protests or arguments could start, Nico had pulled displays up on the screens in the table, historical data from planetary runs. "Do you know why we use a complicated systems of a satellite and drones to run planetaries, instead of just flying through with cruisers?" He asked. "Drones are easier to replace than human life," Percy responded, but Nico shook his head, "If they were worried about human life we would've come up to an alternative to planetary runs altogether. No, the difference is the fuel. Cruisers burn jet fuel, and satflyers use hover thrusters." His squadmates gave him blank looks, and he forced himself to hold back and keep calm. He sometimes forgot how slowly normal brains were at following a path, sometimes you had to spell it out for them. "Back when we used cruisers for planetary runs, according to the records, it took an average of five minutes before winged opposition engaged them. Ever since switching to satflyers, the fastest an air team has been attacked is fifty minutes," he selected numbers, pulling them to the forefront so that his squaddies could follow his train of thought, "this is true even though the satflyers are bigger, slower, and less armed."

There were still blank looks, and Nico clenched his fist. Don't lose your temper, the subgoal is to get them on your side, he cautioned himself. "However the Terrans find our aircrews, it's not by sight or radar," he patiently explained, "it's by the fuel traces somehow, or maybe the noise." "That seems like a really inefficient way of finding us. Why wouldn't they just use radar?" Annabeth asked "I don't know, but it's clear that they don't. The air team can identify Terran movement on the ground, but on every single planetary that encountered resistance," another data set flitted up onto the screens, "the Terrans on the ground attacked out of sync with their aerial units. As if they have to find the ground team and the air team independently. They can't see us as well as we can see them, that's the only answer that makes sense. Everyone assumes the Terrans have better technology, but what if it's not better, it's just different?" The room was silent at the suggestion, as his squadmates pondered the question. "Even if that were the case," Percy said slowly, "and that's a big fuckin' 'if', by the way…how does that help us get our team off the ground?" Nico grinned. He was rather proud of this part. "We land on the planet in cruisers."

Blank looks again… Nico mentally sighed. "Right, from step one then…" He ran through the plan once more in his head, fine tuning it on the spot before he presented it to his squadmates. "Demeter fuels and preps four heavy cruisers. Eris clears them for takeoff," he turned to them, "If you get into hot water later, you can say I manipulated you into doing it. It's on my record that I'm augmented, they'll believe you." "What, you be manipulative to get what you want? Nooo…" Demeter grinned, absentmindedly rubbing her shoulder where Eris had left a small bite mark. "Wait, Nico you're augmented?" Percy looked shocked, but Eris interrupted. "We'll do it, for you Nico." She may have been hesitant about their relationship at first, but Nico appreciated her loyalty now that she was committed to him. That was another difference between her and Demeter; once Eris decided she was on your side, nothing would get in her way to help you. Night and day, he thought affectionately, before re-launching into his explanation. "The four of us squaddies will boost towards the planet in the heavy cruisers. The Orbital might yell at us, but they won't shoot us down. As soon as we hit the fog, we cut engines." "That's insane," Annabeth looked incredulous, but Nico powered through,

"By my calculations, we turn the engines back on at about halfway between the fog and the ground and hit the thrusters full blast, pointed down. The fuel vapors won't kick up until we're past the treeline, whatever tech they're using to detect fuel vapors can't find them beneath the treeline. I know this," he held up a hand to stop the interruption he knew was coming, "because the drones use jet fuel, just like the cruisers, and we've never had a planetary in which the Terrans found the drones. Not one. Now, even with the cruisers at full thrust we'll hit the ground pretty hard, but from there we'll be in position to mount a rescue, well supplied and with the element of surprise on our side. The heavy cruisers can accommodate a second passenger, so we'll have enough space to get everyone back off the planet, with a little squeezing. We head back to the orbital at full speed, and a heavy cruiser at top speed can outrun anything the Terrans have ever thrown at us in the past."

Nico stopped, and waited for the objections. He himself had a couple, but he wasn't going to volunteer the information while the others were still on the fence. "I'm in," Piper stated flatly, as he'd known she would. "That's…a really good plan, Nico," Annabeth sounded impressed, "why don't we take that plan to the General? Maybe, if he heard how well you've thought it out, he would okay the mission?" Nico shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I…don't think that's a good idea," he said. The others looked at him curiously. Nico had to think about it for a few moments, a few breathing reminders pinged by as he put his words in order. The thought had occurred to him as soon as he'd woken up, his freshly defragged mind making the leaps necessary. Now he had to explain it to normal brains.

"The air team wasn't being attacked when it went down. Terran forces didn't attack the ground pod either," he tried laying out his thoughts sequentially, "but we both lost power. There's no common technological link between the two, there's no simple explanation for why they would both fail on the same mission. At least, no explanation for an accidental error." "Are you saying someone sabotaged the planetary?" Piper's eyes were burning, and Nico was startled at how much venom was in her voice. "Not only that, but someone in the Academy. No one on the ground would risk their own lives like that-" "And one of us wouldn't do that to our squaddies," Annabeth interjected, "-right, that too. So assuming someone on the orbital wanted some or all of us to die on this mission, who is able to make that happen?" "Are…are you saying it was one of the scrubs?" Annabeth asked uncertainly. Nico was about to sigh again when Piper's voice, cold and quiet, cut him off.

"General Auspus," she said, her voice iced with rage. Nico nodded, "General Auspus. He had no logical reason for sending us down in the first place, it surprised everyone, Captain Appet included. The sabotage must've been a just-in-case measure. The only problem is that I have no clue why he would want anyone on our squad dead. We're good students, and if he didn't want us here he could just expel us-" "We saw him." Piper's voice was still cold, but there was a dullness there, like an ache in the depths of it, that sent shivers down Nico's spine. "We saw him, Jason and I did, in a conference room. He was using some kind of tool that was covering him in purple sparks. He told us if we told anyone he would expel us." Tears streamed down Piper's face, and Nico had no clue how to respond to what she was saying. Instead he turned to the scrubs, who were watching the proceedings silently with wide eyes. "Two of us knowing this almost got all of us killed," he said quietly, but earnestly. Demeter nodded her understanding, but Eris looked confused. "Please, for your own safety, don't ever tell anyone about this," Nico clarified. Eris's eyes widened even further, but she nodded her understanding.

"We'll use your plan then," Percy awkwardly patted Piper on the shoulder, and the others murmured agreement. "Good. Let's get some gear together and plan on taking off early tomorrow morning," Nico stood. "Even after we rescue them, won't we be back in the same position?" Annabeth asked tentatively, "won't General Auspus still want to silence us? It would probably be good to have a plan to not die after we rescue everyone." Nico mentally scrolled down to that very goal, 48657, increasing its priority. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said grimly.


	12. Ingratiated

***All rights go to their respectful owners.**

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><p>"AWA" Get up, pull myself into consciousness, stop sleeping<p>

It was the worst possible way to wake up, the buzzing headache and the forced knowledge that was crammed into the charged word, but Clarisse grit her teeth and acted as if it hadn't bothered her. Over the past few days she had learned to become incredibly good actress when it came to ignoring the Terrans' forceful way of speech. She yawned and blinked with a vague smile, as if looking forward to a free day instead of sitting alone in a stone cell. It had worked for the old guard, once he realized his charged words didn't bother her he had stopped using them unnecessarily. The guard on the other side of the bars was new, and his face fell at her lack of reaction. His dark purple hair poked out awkwardly from beneath his helmet to frame the crestfallen face, and the overall effect made him look young. "They said you didn't like PO," he said disappointedly, as the word's definition rattled around in her head, words infused with might and power. Very careful not to wince, Clarisse shrugged and shook her head. "It not bug me," she said. That had taken some getting used to as well, speaking like a child using single-syllable words. Terrans' language was almost identical to her own for single syllables, but they used their charged words for anything more complex. Since they didn't understand multi-syllabic english, and she couldn't infuse her words, Clarisse compromised even when it made her sound like an idiot.

"Hmm," the new guard muttered, watching her suspiciously. He suddenly started speaking rapidly, firing off a string of charged up, painful words, "SU, LI, DE, HO, " Clarisse hadn't taken multiple words at the same time before, and her hands, still under the blanket, gripped the sheets. Manipulative and scheming, my words unbelievable, he doesn't believe my words or actions, he thinks I cheat and lie, there's no point in resisting it. She made herself smile, even as she struggled to catch her breath. The sudden meaning faded, but the pounding in her head stayed behind, as if the charged words had burrowed through her skull to get to her brain. "I like you," she grinned, even though it hurt, "what's your name?" "Pho," the new guard seemed unsure of how to take his new charge's attention. Clarisse mentally filed the name away. She wasn't yet sure of exactly how the hierarchy worked, but she knew that those without a charged word for a name were fairly low on the ranking. "I like you Pho. You're a fucking asshole bastard and proud of it." "What means this, 'fuck king ass hole bast tard'?" Pho asked quizzically, sounding out the multi-syllabic words as if they were separate. Clarisse just shrugged and lay back on her cot, hands behind her head.

Another day with nothing to do passed by slowly, and Clarisse settled into her new daily routine. She first folded the homespun blanket into a neat square which she placed on the cot, using it as a cushion as she meditated. There hadn't been the time to continue with her meditation at the Academy, and she found that re-establishing her childhood habit had a much needed calming and stabilizing effect on her. She kept up the meditation until the guards brought her the morning meal. Today it was a wild rice with chunks of spiced meats and vegetables, a small loaf of bread, and a large jug of water. "Why do you give us such luxurious food?" Clarisse asked as she wolfed the meal down. Her captor's largess was odd, considering how sparse her accommodation had otherwise been. Pho seemed startled that she would talk to him, and shrugged. "You eat what we have," he shrugged, "no point in two meals being PO" prepared, cooked, handcrafted Clarisse had taken to the habit of bracing herself whenever a Terran opened their mouth, and she didn't flinch.

After she drank enough to quench her thirst, Clarisse carefully removed the rough black shirt and pants she had been provided with, using the remaining water in the jug to clean them. Out of the corner of her eye she noted the guard, not even attempting to hide his attention. "You give all your guards such a show?" He leered. Clarisse gave him a blank look and continued washing her clothing, careful to make no move to cover herself, but also not trying to titillate. Different guards reacted differently to her routine; some enjoyed the view and some treated it with disinterest. Either way, her display wouldn't hurt as long as she made it clear she wasn't trying to seduce him, and having clean clothes helped her mental stability as well. She wrung them out and put them back on, enjoying the feeling of the damp cloth against her skin in the humid air.

Settling cross-legged on the cot, Clarisse looked around her cell, trying to view it with fresh eyes as she had for the past few days. Three walls were made of tan stone, solid and windowless. The bars that made up the fourth wall were a dark wood, but Clarisse doubted she could break them. If she could splinter the bars the Terrans would have more than one guard to stand by her cell, even though she was a small asian girl. Better to not try, give off the air of a model prisoner. It's worked for me so far. So, she considered, forcing herself to breath deeply as she gazed around, The walls would take a weapon to break through. The bars are better, but the guard needs to be taken care of…still no solution. Same as yesterday. I'm not escaping from here. She sighed, and waited for the guard to arrive to summon her.

He arrived before the second meal was brought. "She is to be brought to the Prince," the new guard pointed at Clarisse with his chin. Pho narrowed his eyes at the guard. "I wasn't told of this," he said suspiciously. "The Prince won't want it talked about…er, talked of," Clarisse said from her cot, "but new guard, he say the truth. The Prince wants me to come to him." Pho seemed begrudgingly satisfied, and he fiddled with the intricate lock on the cell, stepping aside. Clarisse kept her head high as she passed, and pretended not to notice Pho's eyes travelling up and down her body, taking in the shape that the damp clothes did nothing to hide. He was probably worthless, but it didn't hurt to keep his attention in case she needed something from him at a future date.

"Ah, it is good to see you ALE" Clarisse, beautiful, adorable, unique. Clarisse disliked that the Terran's used a charged word to refer to her. Although it was an honorific, she couldn't quite get over the feeling that she was being mentally raped with her own name. She forced a smile and bowed her head, "And it is good to see you too, Prince," she replied quietly. Although his name was Ashahosta, the Prince didn't seem to mind her calling him by his title. Clarisse had learned a few days ago that to attempt a charged name without charging it was akin to an insult. "Though it has been but a day, I find I have missed you. Is that strange?" Ashahosta asked earnestly. This time Clarisse's smile was genuine. She wasn't quite used to the Prince yet, but his boyish naivette amused her. When she and her squaddies had first been brought to their prison, heads in bags to prevent them from identifying their surroundings, Clarisse had spent the time thinking hard about what her best course of action should be. She knew that rescue was out of the question; once the satflyer had crashed she harbored no illusions that the orbital would allow a rescue mission. Even if they did, Clarisse also doubted the Academy had the firepower to mount a decent rescue attempt. Her thoughts had focused mainly on the squad mates there with her in the compound, and to that end she began thinking about what she could do to improve their lot. Perhaps even save their lives.

"Come," Clarisse, special one, exotic exile "I've just had some fruits brought in, you must try one." The Prince gestured across the wide luxurious room to indicate a bowl of small purple fruits. He moved fluidly despite his size; not fat but large and muscular and tall. Loose robes trimmed in furs made him look even bigger than he was, and his long locks of thick purple hair contributed to the effect of size, as if he had a mane around his head. Yet, even for all his size, the Prince struck Clarisse as small somehow. Young. Unsure of himself, with a lack of confidence and a nervous disposition. She watched him in silence as he brought her the fruit, trying to reconcile Ashahosta's huge stature with the impression she had of him. It seemed like so long ago now that she'd decided to seduce her captor, not the mere handful of days in had actually been. She had been expecting to do whatever depraved and degrading things that were required to gain his attention, prepared for the risk that he would simply take what she had to offer and more. It was a risk she had taken willing for her teammates, and when she had been taken to her captor Clarisse thought she was ready for anything he might be.

She hadn't been ready for just how easy it would be to seduce him nor, unfortunately, for just how little power the Prince actually had. Clarisse had him in bed in the space of a single evening, gasping and panting over acts that had been frankly tame for her. It was only afterwards, when Clarisse had tried wheedling her way into better accommodations than the bare cells, that the Prince told her he wasn't in charge of decisions having to do with the prisoners. While in most areas he had power and control, she had cuddled up with the wrong man. Some nebulous power over his head, "the Dukes", had final say over the prisoners. I suppose I should feel used, Clarisse thought idly, biting into the purple fruit. It was hard to muster up any anger when she had been trying to use him in the first place. And it wasn't as if there were no benefits to their relationship…he might not have been able to free them or move them, but she knew that the relative comfort, plentiful food, and the lack of guards harassing them were things she could thank the Prince for. Clarisse snapped out of her reverie to find him watching her closely, and she purposely let a little of the sweet juice dribble down her chin. His eyes followed its path down her neck with utter lack of guile, and she smiled. It also helped that the Prince was so very, very easy to wind up.

"Do you like its taste?" he asked eagerly. "It's very sweet, very nice," Clarisse commented, but she tossed the sticky fruit to one side where it hit the ground with a small thud, "but I don't want the fruit, I want you, my prince." The effect of her words on Ashahosta was immediate and obvious; his eyes widened, and an incredulous grin crossed his face. Clarisse tried not to laugh as she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips hard against his and wrapping her arms around his waist. It was an odd balance she walked at times like these. She kept waiting for the horror of it all to hit her, for her to be stricken with revulsion and dismay. It hadn't come so far, and the Prince seemed perfectly content to let her take the control she needed to keep her calm. Besides, when it came to pure pleasure and skill, Clarisse had fucked worse. The Prince was very eager and appreciative of the smallest things, which was a bit of a fetish of hers. She kept on kissing as she gently pushed him backwards, not breaking their contact as they moved towards his bed.

At the last minute Clarisse twirled them, so that she landed on her back on the rich fur-covered bedspread with the Prince on top of her. He barely seemed to notice, continuing to kiss her all over her face with a passion. You would think he hadn't touched a girl for years, Clarisse idly thought, enjoying the attention and the kisses as they glanced across her forehead and cheeks and lips, which is strange considering he did a lot more than touch me yesterday… It was flattering, really, and when he began fumbling with her still-damp shirt she willingly lifted her arms to let him pull it over her head. She looked down with interest at his dark purple mane as his kisses moved down to her breasts. All of the Terrans she had seen had hair of purple, blue, or green in varying shades, and Clarisse had wondered over the past few days if it was simply a custom to dye them. Now that she was this close she decided it was either a very good dye job, or some technology she wasn't aware of. She was distracted from her thoughts when the Prince began tugging at the waist of her pants. Clarisse detachedly took stock of her state of arousal. Sometimes the Prince's hasty ministrations were enough to get her wet, and on those occasions she was happy to take him, but on this occasion he just wasn't doing it for her. Luckily it was quite easy to distract him into another route.

Clarisse reached a hand down between them smoothly, brushing the Prince's hands aside and slipping it beneath his furs. The man froze as her palm slid across the skin of his stomach and then down into his pants to grasp his firm rod. So, so easy, Clarisse smiled at the Ashahosta, and felt him stiffen even more at even that small action. He grunted as she slid the pants off of him, pausing for a few moments to run hands across his firm ass appreciatively. Gently stroking his shaft up and down, Clarisse slowly shimmied down the bed until he was straddling her stomach. With a suggestive smile she released him, and instead pressed her breasts together. Although she wasn't well endowed in that area, something she blamed firmly on her asian heritage, her boobs were big enough for what she had in mind. The Prince looked down at her, still lusty but obviously confused. For an awkward moment Clarisse thought she would have to walk him through how to tit-fuck her, but a sudden smile on the face above told her he had finally gotten the message.

He pressed his member against her chest, a little tentatively at first, but Clarisse wiggled up and down to rub against him, and the action was apparently enough to motivate. At first it was uncomfortable as his length rubbed dryly between her breasts, but on each thrust she leaned forward and flicked a tongue across the head, and soon her saliva made the motions smooth and slick. The Prince growled with each motion of his hips, his member sliding back and forth between her firm boobs, slick with spit and the trails of precum he was leaving. Clarisse herself was getting hot from the obvious pleasure he was getting from her body, leaving her wet enough that she was she he could be inside of her without discomfort. His fingers digging into her shoulders told her that he was close to finishing, and she decided to let him cum first. Deliberately she looked up at him, met his eyes and whispered, "I want your cum on me, my prince." Too easy, Clarisse smiled at the shocked look on the Prince's face just before he came, shooting a trail of semen across her chin and lips, down her neck and leaving a sticky mess between her breasts. She wasn't particularly turned on by cum, but she licked her lips knowing it would leave the Prince awestruck.

The Prince rose, his limp member flopping awkwardly. Clarisse leaned back on her elbows, knowing that they weren't done. Ashahosta made a complicated gesture towards his cock, and a flash of purple light shone from his fingertips. Clarisse watched with interest as his member grew stiff and straight again, pulsing with the same faint light. The first time he had done it she had been startled, but now she simply looked at the process with curiosity. She didn't have long to look, since as soon as the Prince grew hard again he moved towards her again predatorily. Clarisse smiled slipped her pants off, spreading her naked legs for him as the Prince barely slowed to climb onto the bed. Her legs wrapped around him and he speared her without preamble or foreplay. She gasped as her slit was penetrated by the hard member that tingled and flared inside of her, too warm but still strangely comfortable. The feeling of the cock enhanced by purple light was unnatural, not unpleasant but too strange for her to orgasm. Ashahosta thrust roughly, looking down at her with the same lust that had lit his eyes before, barely hanging onto the pleasure without finishing embarrassingly quickly. Clarisse closed her eyes and leaned back, smiling at the ceiling. It's not bad, this seduction thing, she thought. The sensation was different from normal fucking even though the motions remained the same, his humping moving the whole bed on each thrust. Numbing feelings aside she enjoyed the pleasure as he took his fill of her body.

After a while the tingling sensations in her pussy grew a little uncomfortable, and Clarisse decided it was time for the Prince to get off a second time. She opened her eyes and started moving her hips in small circles, stirring his member inside of her. "My prince, you've already wasted so much of your cum on me," she ran hands from her stomach up to squeeze and play with her breasts. She knew he wouldn't understand words like 'already' or 'wasted', but she was sure her hands smearing his semen across her breasts and nipples would send the right message, "I want the rest in my cunt." The Prince roared as he came inside of her, his fingernails digging into the skin of her hips where he held her. The tingling in her slit was making Clarisse's sex numb, so she couldn't feel his second load shooting inside of her, but for his sake she pretended she could, gasping and moaning and continuing to grind her hips against his. I may as well give him some material for his fantasies… The Prince kept on thrusting even as his arms shook, and Clarisse found the sensation of him thrusting as he slowly grew soft to be strangely endearing.

He pulled away with a gasp, and Clarisse flopped back with a sigh. Ashahosta rose to pull a small towel from the table, offering it to her for her to clean herself with. Clarisse considered him for a moment, conflicting emotions warring in her. On the one hand, the prince was certainly satisfied enough with her, she didn't need to continue being mischievous…but on the other, she couldn't resist. He was so innocent and single-minded, and teasing him was so easy. If the stakes weren't so high she might've called it fun. She took the towel from Ashahosta and tossed it away. "I want to feel your cum in my snatch for the rest of the day," she said lightly, "I love the feel of it." The Prince looked at her dumbfounded. Clarisse was delighted at the reaction, at the thunderstruck look that melted into a grin of his own. "Perhaps I can give you some more to feel then," he growled with a smile. Out of the corner of her eye Clarisse noticed his member twitch, and she wondered if he could perform the same hardening purple light twice in a row. He was approaching her again, and she braced herself hopefully for another pounding. Maybe this time she could ignore the tingling enough to actually finish…

A knock at the door interrupted what Clarisse was sure would be the Prince's third go 'round. "What?" he barked sharply. "The Dukes are here, Prince ASH" Ashahosta, second highest, leader, lord Clarisse winced at the unexpected charged word, glad that her prince was facing the door and didn't see. "They are?" Ashahosta's entire demeanor changed, his dominant bearing shrinking back again. He grabbed at a fur on his bed and used it to hastily wipe the smears of cum off of Clarisse's chest, fumbling for her clothing at the same time. Halfway between amused and befuddled, Clarisse helped, pulling her clothes on and shivering at the damp of the cloth. "They say you are to bring one EX," exile, forsworn, race-traitor "to them at once," the man on the other side sounded nervous himself. Ashahosta turned to meet Clarisse's gaze, almost pleadingly. "Will you be CO?" he asked. Helpful, cooperative, willing and obedient. She considered the question. Of all of her squaddies, she was sure she had laid the groundwork the best. Perhaps she could use her reputation for being 'CO' to gain something from the mysterious Dukes. At the very least, she had a better chance than squad mates did. "Of course I will," she responded with a smile, leaning forward to kiss the Prince on the forehead. When he smiled, the expression was so anxious and tense that Clarisse wondered if she had made a huge mistake.

When the bag was removed from her head, it took Clarisse a few moments to re-adjust to the lights. When she did, her stomach dropped. She had hoped she would be taken to some small and comfortable room, somewhere private where she could perhaps work her seduction on someone with actual power. This was as far removed from those hopes as possible. The room was small, but it was also ornate and official. In front of her sat a large wooden table, three austere older men sitting behind it and watching her with serious expressions. They seemed representative of the three colors she had seen throughout the Terran's world, one with faded blue hair, one with mint green, and one with lavender, all staring at her inscrutably. The table between them was empty, except for a large silver bowl that shone with multicolored light. To the right of the table stood what she assumed to be three princes, Ashahosta among them. On the left a spindly, thin man with a small stone tablet was watching her with a startling intensity, as if he was ready to take notes if she so much as scratched her nose.

"Please take one of the spheres and eat it," the thin man broke the silence. Clarisse glanced at the bowl on the table. On closer inspection, she could see that the source of the light came from a collection of glowing spheres that filled the bowl. They were small, and looked like glass with tiny fires trapped within, fires of green and blue and purple. If nothing else, they're consistent with their color schemes, Clarisse thought, reaching forward and selecting one. She chose purple in honor of the man she had come to think of as 'her' prince, and vaguely wondered if she was passing or failing a test with her color choice. When no one said anything at her selection, she popped the sphere in her mouth and bit down. The sphere crunched and her mouth was full of grainy powder; it clearly didn't just look like glass, it was made of glass. Clarisse spat it out and gazed at the impassive three across from her. Did they really think she would simply kill herself as they all calmly watched?

"These spheres are hideously expensive in both time and manpower," the thin man said calmly, "if you waste any more of them like that, you will guarantee your execution." With the threat of death, it took a moment for Clarisse to process the significance of what he had just said. "Did you just say multi-syllable words without charging them?" She asked. The thin man made a sour face as he responded, "I am one of the few who has bothered to learn to speak the tongue without magic. It is quite distasteful, but on those rare occasions when it is needed, it makes me invaluable. Now please, the sphere. It will not kill you." Magic? They think their technology is magic? What kind of backward creatures are these Terrans? Did they get their tech from someone else, so they don't understand how it works? Clarisse took another purple sphere, trying to ignore the gritty crunching as she ground it in her teeth and swallowed. Instantly she felt a fire burning in her stomach, along with a vaguely unpleasant pressure. The older man in the middle nodded as if satisfied, the action sending his tuft of mint green hair wobbling. The thin spindly man spoke again.

"Exile. You have been brought before the Dukes of the three great tribes to answer their interrogations. While your safety is not guaranteed, if you cooperate the fate of you and your companions will be better than if you do not. As you seem unable to speak normally, I will be acting as translator between you and the Dukes using low speech, speaking to you by tongue and to them by mind." Clarisse nodded her understanding. The pressure in her stomach was uncomfortable. The translator paused for a moment, not taking his eyes from her, and then spoke again. "We are informed that your name is Clarisse. Have you ever attempted to kill one of our number Clarisse?" Clarisse opened her mouth to protest, and although she could feel her lips shaping the word 'no', her voice rang in the small room, "Yes, when they came for us in the tent I tried to shoot one of you in the head." She covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide, as the pressure and heat instantly dissipated from her stomach. The translator simply nodded his head and waited, clearly conversing with the three men behind the table in his mind. "Please eat another sphere," he said finally. This is unfair, Clarisse hesitantly took a blue sphere and slipped it into her mouth, I can't lie, can't even spin the truth…what kind of compound is this?

"How many of your Exiles' moons now orbit about our planet?" The translator's voice seemed dry and lifeless, and Clarisse was reminded of a ventriloquist's dummy. She focused on the exact wording of the question. I've never been exiled anywhere, so I don't consider myself an exile, she reasoned, and since a moon is a planetary body, technically the orbitals don't count as moons. "There are five of them, we refer to them as 'Orbitals'," Clarisse's traitorous mouth seemed to move without her permission, and even as she felt the pressure in her stomach lessen, a knot in it was growing. I'm giving away everything….anything they could possibly ask…I'm helpless… even as the panicked thought crossed her mind she kept on talking, against her will, "their names are Academy, Techrider, Minera, Pivot, and Basura." The translator carefully made notations on his tablet with a thin writing instrument, and Clarisse felt more nervous and helpless than she had ever felt in her life. I can only pray that they don't ask the right questions. At the translator's indication, she took another sphere, but this time she held it under her tongue and pretended to chew and swallow. "What is the goal of your balls of death and lightening? For what purpose do they attack?" Clarisse opened her mouth to answer, but the translator cut her off sharply, "please swallow the sphere before answering."

Defeated, Clarisse swallowed the ball. There was nothing left to do. A thin sheen of sweat made her skin feel sticky in the too-hot room, and she could feel the Prince's semen dripping out of her to dampen her pants. She regretted her decision to make him happy as she shifted uncomfortably, her mouth running on autopilot. "The drones find a location where Terrans are situated, then clears the village out. Pockets of crysium can always be found just underneath the village, and the miners in Orbital Minera can harvest the crysium from orbit, as long as there are no Terrans in the way to interrupt the mining drones and beams. We've also found that a successful attack against a village will delay the next Drake attack by a few months." Even through the feelings of helplessness, Clarisse could tell her words surprised them. Until then, the old men sitting across from her hadn't changed their expression, but their faces now registered surprise. Maybe that could be capitalized upon. "Why do you Terrans attack us with monsters?" Clarisse challenged. The surprised looks turned to looks of shock and outrage. "You and yours have attacked and hounded us for far longer than we have sent Dracori to respond, Exile," the translator spat. He hadn't paused to mentally consult with the three before answering, "are we now at fault for defending ourselves against your blind aggression?" He stopped speaking suddenly, as if he had been silenced, and as he clearly worked to regain his composure, Clarisse pondered his words. It hadn't ever occurred to her to wonder who had started the war between the Orbitals and the surface. It was simply something that always had been.

"Do you mean that if we stopped attacking…you would stop sending invaders and Drakes to attack us?" She asked carefully. To demonstrate her cooperative nature, she took a sphere and ate it without being told as she waited for an answer. "The Dukes know that you do not have the power to stop your moons' attacks on our people," the translator answered after a pause, "each of our villages have already attempted peace. It is you exiles that lust for war, not us. Now," he waited until Clarisse swallowed, smiling quite unpleasantly, "in what way might we destroy the Exiled moons?" Clarisse blinked, horror settling in her stomach. She was so shocked by the question that she couldn't even think of the answer, the sympathy that had been slowly building for the Terrans disappearing. So much for us being the war-lusting ones, she thought bitterly. "I….I don't really know," she admitted, relieved that it was the truth, "maybe if you could send up five or six Drakes at once, or if you could get someone already on the inside to infiltrate and destroy the orbitals' inner workings? Terrans can certainly hurt our orbitals, but I haven't seen anything you could do that would bring one down, let alone all of them."

The Dukes seemed very displeased with their answer, and Clarisse was glad. She took another sphere and popped it into her mouth somewhat smugly, which perhaps was a mistake. The duke with lavender hair barked a question, his dusty voice breaking the silence for the first time, "Why do you shift in your seat so ONC?" shiftily, suspiciously, as if uncomfortable or hiding something Shit, Clarisse blushed as the pressure in her stomach seemed to force the words through her throat, "Because I let Prince Ashahosta cum inside me and it's dripping out now." Ironically, the dukes seemed far less shocked at this answer, although the one with lavender hair glanced to his right at Prince Ashahosta, who was also blushing and looking straight ahead. "Did you do this to convince him to free you?" The translator asked as if only curious, but he indicated the bowl as well. Clarisse took one and chewed slowly, her entire face flushed. This was almost worse than before. She refused to meet anyone's eyes as she answered. "I knew I wasn't going to be freed, I just wanted to see my squad mates and help them be better off however I could," she answered quietly, "And at first it was just about getting something from him, but after a few days I…" Clarisse struggled hard to stop talking, but whether it was magic or chemicals in the glass pills, it certainly kept her lips moving, "…I actually kind of like him. He's kind and sweet. The kind of guy I'd sleep with even in other circumstances."

The room was quiet for a very long time after that, a mental conversation occurring that did not involve her. Clarisse processed what she had just said as they carried on their silent talking. It was just as unexpected to her as it must've been to the dukes, but she knew the spheres forced her to speak the truth, even if she hadn't wanted to admit the truth to herself. Glancing over at Ashahosta, she mentally shrugged. Why not? There was nothing wrong with enjoying the seduction of one's captor. At least, she didn't think so… "The Dukes have decided upon your fate," the translator broke the silence, and Clarisse stiffened. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she had no clue what the quiet men across from her would decree. The translator didn't say another word, but the door to the room opened and guards entered, clearly silently directed by the dukes. Gently but firmly they each took her by an arm, and escorted her out of the room.

The problems of betraying the names of the orbitals or revealing embarrassing details of her sex life seemed disgustingly trivial as the guards walked her down the hallways. It was the first time that Clarisse had seen her surroundings without a bag over her head, and she tried to calm the fluttering in her stomach by taking it all in. The halls were the same sandy stone that her cell had been made of, but every few feet there were glassless windows that looked out onto a village. Clarisse had assumed she was being kept underground since her cell wasn't lit by sunlight, and she tried to catch glances outside at each window she passed. The village was a little smaller than her classes said an average Terran village ran. She could see glimpses of forest on the boundary, but the buildings themselves made a large ring that was clear of plant growth. People milled busily back and forth across the clearing in the middle, and Clarisse noted that every single one had hair of purple, blue or green. Are they letting me see all of this because I'm going to die soon? A small forlorn voice asked in the back of her head. She wasn't entirely sure how to answer.

The guards stopped next to a large double door made of a heavy dark wood. On either side stood two more Terrans, and they glanced at the three with half-hearted curiosity. Clarisse's heart hammered in her chest as the guard on her right knocked on the door. She contemplated making a break for it, but the Terrans had proved they were a match for pistols and weaponry; they would have no problem gunning her down before she reached the end of the hall. The door swung open slowly, and a familiar voice flooded Clarisse's chest with relief. "God damn Clarisse, who'd you have to fuck to manage all of this?" "Jason, you fucking douchebag asshole…" Clarisse was so overwhelmed she couldn't even finish the insult, rushing forward and wrapping him in a bearhug. The other squaddies gathered around to join as she laughed and cried at the same time, and the guards closed the door behind them, leaving the squad mates alone.

The room was huge and comfortable, as far from the jail cells as could be. Each of the squad mates had a small bed covered with furs, although from the multiple furs piled on one indicated that Thalia and Bianca had decided to share. A separate room contained facilities, including a bath made of a single piece of carved wood. As soon as she could extract herself from her squad mates she closed herself in the room and filled a steaming hot bath, surprised to find running water in the primitive compound. As the room filled with steam and she lay in the water, Clarisse finally let herself relax, shaking with nerves and wondering what the future would bring for her and the rest of the rookies.


End file.
